Red Bull have officially announced that Juri Vips’ contract with the team has been terminated after he used a racial slur while streaming online last week. The Estonian driver, who was a member of Red Bull’s junior programme and is racing for Hitech in Formula Two this season, was recently suspended by the Austrian outfit as a direct consequence of the incident.
It has now been confirmed by Red Bull that Vips has since been removed as their test and reserve driver following an investigation into his use of racist language, with the team announcing the news via an official statement on Tuesday.
“Following its investigation into an online incident involving Juri Vips, Oracle Red Bull Racing has terminated Juri’s contract as its test and reserve driver,” the statement read. “The team do not condone any form of racism.”
It remains unclear if Vips will remain on Red Bull’s books as a junior driver in spite of his dismissal from his role as their test and reserve driver in light of last week’s incident. He took part in free practice at the Spanish Grand Prix to make his F1 race weekend debut earlier this year and currently sits seventh in the F2 driver standings after picking up a total of 51 points over the course of the campaign to date.
Vips previously released a statement of his own to apologise for his use of racist terminology, with the 21-year-old insisting via Instagram that he was deeply remorseful for his actions.
“I wish to unreservedly apologise for the offensive language used during a live gaming stream earlier today,” he said. “This language is entirely unacceptable and does not promote the values and principles that I hold.
“I deeply regret my actions and this is not the example I wish to set. I will cooperate with the investigation fully.”
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