Red Bull has announced that it will continue to "support" Juri Vips despite his dismissal as a test and reserve driver for using a racial slur.
Christian Horner, the team principal for Red Bull, stated last week that the team had made the "draconian" choice to end Vips' Formula 1 involvement due to his use of the phrase "bitch n*****" during a live video feed the week prior.
However, the team has since revealed that Red Bull has not completely terminated connections with Vips.
A Red Bull spokeswoman stated to RaceFans that although "Juri's contract as test and reserve driver was terminated by Oracle Red Bull Racing, he remains a part of Red Bull's young driver program."
As a result of his expulsion from Red Bull, Vips's status on the team was in question. Vips competed in last weekend's Silverstone race while wearing a Red Bull-branded helmet, after his Hitech F2 team decided not to take action against him.
Despite this, the 21-year-old was deleted from the website's list of drivers for the Red Bull Junior Team. The Junior Team released a preview for this weekend's F2 race at the Red Bull Ring, naming its four team members as Jehan Daruvala, Liam Lawson, Dennis Hauger, and Ayumu Iwasa without mentioning Vips.
The Red Bull spokesperson added they “will support Juri as he transitions from his role with us.”
Last weekend, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Lawson had replaced Vips as Red Bull's test and reserve driver.
