Juri Vips’ ties to Red Bull have been totally severed, and Helmut Marko has acknowledged that he is no longer involved with the team, clearing up any doubt.
Additionally, although Vips is no longer a member of the team, Max Verstappen had said that he believes the driver merits another chance.
Hitech Formula 2 driver Juri Vips was initially expelled from the Red Bull academy after using a racial slur during a Twitch stream. Later, Red Bull revealed that Vips had lost his job as their test and backup driver, although it was unclear whether he was still a Red Bull athlete.
Hitech Grand Prix declared that Vips would remain with the team for the remainder of the Formula 2 season even if the terms of that support weren’t clear at the time.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had shown support for the young athlete and had said he deserves a second chance.
“We have cancelled our agreement with him, and that will undoubtedly give him time for reflection,” Horner said. “Everybody at some point deserves a second chance if they can show that they have really learnt from their mistakes.”
“He is a young guy, a young kid, and we will be supporting him even though he has had his agreement terminated… from a mental health and educational perspective. Hopefully, he will learn from it.”
However, Helmut Marko recently made it clear to ORF Tirol that Vips is no longer in any way connected to Red Bull.
“I want to be clear. Juri Vips no longer receives any support from Red Bull,” the Red Bull adviser said. “You need to be responsible for your actions and as a result, our cooperation has ended.”
“Of course, words are not a reason to destroy the career of a talented athlete, especially as he apologised. But these are global trends.”
Since the incident, which happened before to the Formula 2 race at Silverstone, VIPS has not worn any Red Bull-branded racing apparel. The team also altered his car from the Red Bull livery to Hitech’s standard livery before that weekend.
When questioned about his status as a Red Bull junior driver before to the Austria race, Vips declined to comment, but he did tell the press that the incident was “a major mistake.”
Max Verstappen addressed the Vips situation as well, first declaring his departure from the group. He continued by saying that he believed the Estonian driver deserved another shot.
“I know Juri a bit more than the average person and he is actually a super nice guy,” Verstappen said. “I think he really understood what he did wrong because he is in a very difficult moment in his career with everyone judging him. Fair enough, what he said was not correct.”
“I definitely think he deserves a second chance and I read the statement from F2 that they wouldn’t have done the same, but he deserves a second chance to show that he learned from what he did wrong and go out there and show that he can be a better person, or at least be more educated about what you are saying.”
