Jüri Vips (born 10 August 2000) is an Estonian racing driver and former Red Bull Junior Team member who became one of the most highly rated talents on the F2/F3 ladder in the early 2020s.
Junior career
Vips graduated from karting with strong results, including the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals Junior title in 2014. With Prema in Formula 4 he was the 2016 Italian F4 rookie champion and won the 2017 ADAC F4 title with a decisive final-race victory at Hockenheim. In 2018 he moved to the FIA F3 European Championship with Motopark, finishing fourth with four wins. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team in late 2018.
Formula 3
In 2019 Vips contested the new FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix, taking three wins and finishing fourth in the standings. He also nearly won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, finishing second by under a second.
Formula 2
Vips reached Formula 2 in 2020 via a mid-season call-up to DAMS, replacing the injured Sean Gelael; despite the partial campaign he scored a podium and out-performed expectations. For 2021 he joined Hitech for a full season alongside Liam Lawson, finishing sixth with two victories and becoming the first driver to win two F2 races in a single weekend, at Baku. He stayed with Hitech in 2022 alongside Marcus Armstrong, taking a feature-race win at Monza.
After F2 and Red Bull
In June 2022 Vips was suspended and then removed from the Red Bull Junior Team after using a racial slur during a streamed online game, an incident he publicly apologised for. He completed the 2022 F2 season with Hitech but lost his Red Bull backing and reserve-driver role (he had been a Red Bull Racing reserve and made a free-practice appearance at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix). He subsequently rebuilt his career abroad, racing in Japanese Super Formula and on the American scene, including IndyCar and sportscars.