VIP Contracts – Lando Norris and Max Verstappen agree on Red Bull situation despite Marko’s strong words
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have both called for Juri Vips to be given a second chance after the driver was axed by Red Bull over his use of a racial slur on a gaming live stream.
Max Verstappen agrees with Christian Horner on axed Red Bull junior
Vips was initially suspended by Red Bull when footage of him using the slur circulated on social media and ultimately had his contract terminated after an investigation. The 21-year-old joined Red Bull’s junior team in 2018 and had been a test and reserve driver with their F1 team.
He has since apologised for his actions and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who runs Red Bull’s driver development programme, issued a strong statement about Vips’ involvement with the team.
“I want to be clear – Juri Vips no longer receives any support from Red Bull,” Marko said. You need to be responsible for your actions and as a result, our cooperation has ended.
“Of course, words are not a reason to destroy the career of a talented athlete. Especially as he apologised. But these are global trends.”
Verstappen, meanwhile, feels Vips ‘definitely deserves a second chance’, saying: “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.”
And Norris agrees with Verstappen, telling FormulaRapida.net: “I think there is a difference between someone making, let’s say, a mistake and having used just wrong language and a wrong word versus and someone who is purposely trying to do it to discriminate.
“People make mistakes in life. And careers, I don’t think, should just be ended because of something like that. I think you should be able to get forgiven and get opportunities other times.”
