F1 News

Vips gets support from "colleagues": "Not an ounce of racism in his body"

23 June 2022 at 12:28

Last update 23 June 2022 at 13:53

GPblog.com

Jüri Vips was in trouble the week after the Canadian Grand Prix for making insulting racist remarks during a stream on Twitch. The F2 driver was heavily criticised for this, but has also received support from fellow drivers.

Vips also receives messages of support

His comments came at a great cost to the Est. Red Bull Racing suspended him from the junior team immediately and conducted a further investigation into the incident. The F2 team Hitech also said they were shocked by the incident. It is rumoured that Red Bull Racing has already dismissed the driver from the junior programme after the VIPs deleted the words 'Red Bull Junior' from his biography on Instagram.

In addition to all the criticism, the Estonian is now receiving support from two other drivers. Firstly from Formula 3 driver Enaam Ahmed who wrote under a post on Instagram: "Juri is a great guy. I grew up with him and there is not an ounce of racism in his body. One of the best drivers I have raced against and a friend." Ahmed says he has had to deal with a lot of racism himself, but has never detected it in VIPs: "He is a great person and a great friend and is not a racist."

F3 driver and former F2 driver Juan Manuel also responded on Instagram under Vips' apology with a show of support: "We all make mistakes and unfortunately some are more bad than others. We, those who know what kind of person you are, know that you didn't mean it the way it came across. Life is about learning and growing; take this as an opportunity to do that and keep your head up."