Who is Yuri Vips? Red Bull suspends driver over racist remarks during online gaming stream

Red Bull Racing issued a statement on Tuesday and announced that the team management has suspended their junior driver Juri Vips over the use of offensive language during an online gaming stream on Twitch. The Estonian driver was appointed as the Red Bull Racing F1 team’s reserve and test driver for the ongoing 2022 season earlier this year. The 21-year-old driver then went on to make his F1 practice debut during the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

However, after Vips’ actions of making racial abuses during a live stream, which also included Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson have now landed the Estonian in trouble. In the statement announcing the decision on the matter, Red Bull Racing said, “Red Bull Racing has suspended junior driver Juri Vips from all team duties with immediate effect, pending a full investigation into the incident. As an organization, we condemn abuse of any kind and have a zero-tolerance policy to racist language or behavior within our organization”.

Juri Vips picked up his first F2 pole position at Imola

Vips currently races in the Formula 2 championship, where he earlier made headlines for clinching his first pole position in F2, during the Imola GP. This was also the second pole position for Red Bull Racing at the circuit. Being a part of the Red Bull drivers academy, Vips competes in F2 with the Hitech Grand Prix team.

Everything we need to know about Juri Vips career

Born in Tallinn, Estonia, on August 10, 2000, Vips started competing in karting in 2011. After making his name in the karting community from 2013 to 2015, Vips made his car-racing debut in 2016, in the Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4 championships with Prema Powerteam. He then made his way up to the Formula 3, and made his debut in the F3 European Championship as a guest driver for Motopark in 2017.

After securing a full-time seat with the team for the 2018 season, Vips joined Hitech Grand Prix in F3 for the 2019 season. He won races at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone Circuit, and ended the fourth season in the championship. After a disrupted 2020 season due to the Covid-19 virus, Vips made his full-time Formula 2 debut in 2021 and finished the season with two wins, six podiums and a fastest lap. It is pertinent to mention that Vips has been a part of the Red Bull Racing Junior Team since October 2018.

(Image: @formula2/@f1/Instagram)