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Vips ousted by Red Bull after racial slur
Red Bull has terminated its contract with Juri Vips after he used a racial slur during an online gaming session.
Vips was streaming a game on Twitch alongside other drivers, including fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, when he used the term last week. Red Bull immediately moved to suspend the Estonian, and after the team launched an internal investigation it has now dropped Vips with immediate effect.
“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 team said in a statement. “The team does not condone any form of racism.”
The announcement comes after widespread condemnation of Nelson Piquet for using a race-related derogatory term when referencing Lewis Hamilton during a Brazilian podcast, with Red Bull declining to issue a statement on Piquet’s comments – the father of Max Verstappen’s girlfriend Kelly – while it worked through legal processes relating to Vips.
Vips has also been removed from the Red Bull junior program, although there has been confirmation yet regarding his future in Formula 2, where he drives for Hitech and is due to race this weekend at Silverstone.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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