Max Verstappen thinks it is appropriate that former Red Bull reserve and test driver Juri Vips, to be given another shot after a controversial racial slur.
The Estonian was booted by the F1 championship leaders after using a racial slur during a live-streamed gaming session last month.
A career lifeline was extended to VIPS by his F2 team, Hitech GP, which continued to employ him while understanding the gravity of the term he used in discussion. VIPS had participated in the Spanish Grand Prix FP1 as part of his Red Bull responsibilities.
F2 itself issued a statement indicating that it would not have kept Vips on as an employee. However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated earlier this month that the team would still support him despite removing him as a test and backup driver.
“I do feel people deserve a second chance. Probably not a third but some things can be easily said, sometimes not even really thought about how badly you can hurt someone,” Verstappen said.
“I know Juri a bit more than the average person and he is actually a super nice guy and 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.”
