F2: Vips not receiving 'any support'

(GMM) Juri Vips is not receiving “any support” from Red Bull following a racially-linked incident.

That is the insistence of Dr Helmut Marko, after the energy drink company kicked out the 21-year-old reserve and Formula 2 driver for saying the ‘N-word’ during a live online gaming stream.

However, team boss Christian Horner said subsequently that Red Bull will in fact keep “supporting” Vips “from a mental health and educational perspective”.

“I want to be clear,” Marko, Red Bull’s top Austrian consultant, told ORF Tirol.

“Juri Vips no longer receives any support from Red Bull. You need to be responsible for your actions and as a result our cooperation has ended.”

However, the 79-year-old did express some regret about the harshness of the consequences for the young driver.

“Of course words are not a reason to destroy the career of a talented athlete,” said Marko. “Especially as he apologized.

“But these are global trends,” he explained.

Vips retained his Formula 2 seat with the Hitech team and is currently eighth overall in the FIA championship.