Racing Bulls highlight reason Arvid Lindblad did not receive Red Bull promotion

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has detailed why Arvid Lindblad was overlooked as an option for Red Bull at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Milton Keynes-based squad was forced to pick a substitute driver after Isack Hadjar picked up an injury during the summer break.

It settled on Lindblad's team-mate Liam Lawson, who was dropped from Red Bull last year after a disappointing opening two rounds with the squad.

The New Zealander is the first driver in Red Bull's history to be handed a second chance at the team.

But when asked if promoting Lindblad instead of Lawson was an option, Permane told Sky F1: “Yes, I think so.

“The pragmatic thing is to take Liam. Liam is a Red Bull driver. He just has his nose in front of Arvid this year. 

“To settle on the more experienced [driver] is the right thing to do for them. It's fairly normal for a team to take one of their drivers, even if he happens to be driving for another team. 

“The last time we saw it was Lewis when he had COVID in Bahrain that time, they took George out of the Williams and put them in there.”

With Lawson getting the call-up, Yuki Tsunoda was brought in as his replacement at the Red Bull sister team.

Permane admitted that he did not have a significant say in the decision-making process.

“What Red Bull has done, we discussed it - I wouldn't say I had a huge amount of influence on it, I'm not sure Liam had a huge amount of influence on it. 

“It's definitely the right thing to do, honestly, and Arvid is fine about it. He completely gets it, and I think he's happy where he is.”