Jüri Vips

Jüri Vips (born 10 August 2000) is an Estonian racing driver, 2017 ADAC Formula 4 champion and member of the Red Bull Junior Team.[1]

Jüri Vips
Nationality	Estonian
Born	10 August 2000 Tallinn, Estonia
Formula 2 career
Debut season	2020
Current team	Hitech Grand Prix
Car number	7
Former teams	DAMS
Starts	8 (8 entries)
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	16th in 2020
Previous series
2020 2019 2019 2017–18 2016–17 2016–17 2016–17	Formula Regional European Super Formula Championship FIA Formula 3 FIA European F3 Italian F4 Championship ADAC Formula 4 MRF Challenge
Championship titles
2017	ADAC Formula 4

Career

Karting

Vips was born in Tallinn and began competitive karting in 2011 in his native Estonia. After winning the Rotax Junior Estonian Championship in 2013, Vips qualified for the 2014 Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in the Junior category, in which he claimed victory.[2] He competed in the CIK-FIA European KF1 Championship in 2015, racing against future FIA Formula 3 competitors Richard Verschoor and Marcus Armstrong. Vips ended the championship in 12th place.

Formula 4

In 2016, Vips made his single-seater debut in the Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4 championships with Prema Powerteam. He finished sixth in ADAC Formula 4 and fifth in Italian F4, where he won the final race of the season and took the title of rookie champion.[3][4] In the winter of 2016–17, Vips took part in the Indian-based MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship, taking three podium places and finishing sixth in the standings.

In 2017, Vips continued with Prema in Italian F4 and ADAC Formula 4.[5] His appearances in Italian F4 were as a guest driver and he was ineligible to place in the championship, however he took two pole positions and a race victory at Mugello. In ADAC Formula 4, Vips was involved in a title fight with teammate Marcus Armstrong. Vips claimed the title in the final race at the Hockenheimring after pole sitter Armstrong lost the lead of the race to Artem Petrov.[6]

Formula 3

In September 2017, after his ADAC Formula 4 victory, Vips tested Formula 3 machinery with Prema at Magny-Cours.[7] In October he made his debut in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship as a guest driver, replacing Motopark driver Petru Florescu who was unable to compete in the final round at the Hockenheimring for medical reasons.[8] Vips finished the three races in 21st, 12th and 12th.

Vips secured a full-time seat with Motopark for the 2018 season.[9] He took three pole positions and four race wins on his way to fourth place in the championship, behind teammate Dan Ticktum and Prema drivers Mick Schumacher and Robert Shwartzman. In November 2018, Vips made his first appearance at the Macau Grand Prix. He placed 14th in qualifying and improved to seventh in the qualification race. He maintained his position in the main race, finishing seventh, but was handed a 40-second time penalty for making an overtake under red-flag conditions, demoting him to 19th place.[10]

In December 2018 it was confirmed that Vips would compete in the new FIA Formula 3 Championship, joining Hitech GP for the 2019 season.[11] Vips had a relatively successful campaign with two feature race wins and one sprint race win. Despite some inconsistent results, Vips placed fourth in the overall driver's championship, finishing highest of the non-Prema drivers.[12]

Vips continued with Hitech GP to contest the 2019 Macau Grand Prix. He took pole position for the qualification race after the second qualifying session on Friday, setting the new lap record in the process.[13] He then managed to convert the pole position into victory in the qualifying race, allowing him to start on pole for Sunday's race.[14] Despite a near-flawless weekend up to that point, Vips was unable to convert the pole to victory in the all-important Sunday race. Vips lead in the early part of the race, however, due to crashes from Leonardo Pulcini and Ferdinand Habsburg, Vips' lead was eradicated as the safety car was called out. After the race resumed, Richard Verschoor overtook Vips at the Lisboa corner. Vips ended the race in second, only 0.792 seconds behind Verschoor.[15]

Super Formula, Formula Regional and Formula 2

In October 2019, it was announced that Vips would replace Patricio O'Ward at Team Mugen for the final round of the 2019 Super Formula Championship.[16] He qualified 19th out of the 20 cars but performed admirably during the race. However, Vips stalled the car during his pit stop, losing around half a minute while sat stationary. He finished the race in 18th.[17]

Vips re-joined Team Mugen in a winter test at Suzuka in December 2019, sparking rumours about a full-time drive for 2020. Vips finished third overall during the test.[18] In January 2020, it was confirmed that Vips would drive for Team Mugen in the 2020 Super Formula Championship alongside Tomoki Nojiri.[19][20] However, the start of the Super Formula season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, a revised calendar was released with the championship due to begin at the end of August, however doubts remained over Vips' ability to compete due the closure of Japan's borders to foreign nationals.[21]

In June 2020, Vips took part in a Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) test at Imola with the Finnish KIC Motorsport team. He was then announced as part of the team's lineup for the 2020 season.[22] Vips' manager Marko Asmer clarified that his Super Formula campaign was the priority, but that FREC would be a "back-up" if travel to Japan became impossible.[23] Vips' first FREC race at Misano ended in retirement after a spin into the gravel.

Vips was ultimately unable to enter Japan in time for the first round of the Super Formula championship at Motegi. He was replaced at Team Mugen by Ukyo Sasahara.[24][25] Shortly after claiming a double podium finish in the FREC round at Circuit Paul Ricard, Vips was called up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship to replace injured DAMS driver Sean Gelael.[26] This was after it was confirmed that Gelael, who broke his vertebrae after an incident in the sprint race at Barcelona, would be ruled out of racing for at least six weeks.[27] Vips finished narrowly outside of points in his first four races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. He scored first points of the season at Mugello where he finished seventh in the feature race and third in the sprint race,[28] making him the first Estonian to claim a podium finish in the Formula 2 series. Commitments in Formula 2 forced Vips to miss the FREC round at the Red Bull Ring, but he returned to the series at the following round at Mugello, claiming a second-place finish.

After missing the first three rounds, Vips was set to return to Super Formula for the fourth round at Autopolis, having successfully entered Japan and completed a two-week quarantine period.[29] This caused him to miss the fifth and sixth rounds of FREC, limiting his chances of earning FIA Super Licence points through that series.[21] However, on the week before the race at Autopolis, Team Mugen confirmed that Vips would not take part in any of the remaining rounds.[25] Formula One team Red Bull Racing later revealed that Vips had been recalled from Super Formula to complete testing and reserve driver duties.[30]

Vips is due to race full-time in Formula 2 for the 2021 season in Hitech GP.[31]

Formula 1

In October 2018, Vips was linked to a place in the Red Bull Junior Team.[32] He was confirmed with the program the following month prior to the Macau Grand Prix.[1]

In November 2020, Vips received his FIA Super Licence after completing a 300km test for Red Bull, driving the Red Bull RB8 at the Silverstone Circuit. He was a reserve driver for Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri at the Turkish, Bahrain, Sakhir and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix's [21]

Vips tested the current Red Bull Racing RB16 at the end-of-season young driver test that took place week after the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the season.[33]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2016	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	Prema Powerteam	24	0	0	0	5	138	6th
	Italian F4 Championship		18	1	2	3	8	140	5th
2016–17	MRF Challenge Formula 2000	MRF Racing	15	0	0	0	3	135	6th
2017	ADAC Formula 4 Championship	Prema Powerteam	21	2	0	0	7	245.5	1st
	Italian F4 Championship		9	1	2	2	5	114	NC†
	FIA Formula 3 European Championship	Motopark	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC‡
2018	FIA Formula 3 European Championship	Motopark	30	4	3	6	8	284	4th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	19th
2019	FIA Formula 3 Championship	Hitech Grand Prix	16	3	1	1	4	141	4th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	1	0	1	N/A	2nd
	Super Formula	Team Mugen	1	0	0	0	0	0	23rd
2020	Formula Regional European Championship	KIC Motorsport	9	0	0	3	3	81	8th
	Formula 2 Championship	DAMS	8				1	16	16th
2021	FIA Formula 2 Championship	Hitech Grand Prix

^† As Vips had not competed in the required number of rounds, he was ineligible for a championship position.
^‡ As Vips was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	DC	Points
2017	Motopark	Volkswagen	SIL 1	SIL 2	SIL 3	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MNZ 3	PAU 1	PAU 2	PAU 3	HUN 1	HUN 2	HUN 3	NOR 1	NOR 2	NOR 3	SPA 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	ZAN 3	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NÜR 3	RBR 1	RBR 2	RBR 3	HOC 1 21	HOC 2 12	HOC 3 12	NC†	0†
2018	Motopark	Volkswagen	PAU 1 10	PAU 2 17	PAU 3 12	HUN 1 6	HUN 2 18	HUN 3 4	NOR 1 7	NOR 2 1	NOR 3 2	ZAN 1 6	ZAN 2 8	ZAN 3 15	SPA 1 6	SPA 2 Ret	SPA 3 4	SIL 1 4	SIL 2 2	SIL 3 1	MIS 1 5	MIS 2 1	MIS 3 2	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 15	NÜR 3 6	RBR 1 6	RBR 2 4	RBR 3 8	HOC 1 3	HOC 2 1	HOC 3 9	4th	284

^† As Vips was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2019	Hitech Grand Prix	CAT FEA 6	CAT SPR 2	LEC FEA 4	LEC SPR 17	RBR FEA 1	RBR SPR 6	SIL FEA 1	SIL SPR 15	HUN FEA 4	HUN SPR 4	SPA FEA 5	SPA SPR 21	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 11	SOC FEA 8	SOC SPR 1	4th	141

Complete Super Formula Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	DC	Points
2019	Team Mugen	SUZ	AUT	SUG	FUJ	MOT	OKA	SUZ 18	23rd	0

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2020	DAMS	RBR1 FEA	RBR1 SPR	RBR2 FEA	RBR2 SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SIL1 FEA	SIL1 SPR	SIL2 FEA	SIL2 SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	SPA FEA 11	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA 11	MNZ SPR 9	MUG FEA 7	MUG SPR 3	SOC FEA Ret	SOC SPR 18	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	BHR2 FEA	BHR2 SPR	16th	16
2021	Hitech Grand Prix	BHR SP1	BHR SP2	BHR FEA	MCO SP1	MCO SP2	MCO FEA	BAK SP1	BAK SP2	BAK FEA	SIL SP1	SIL SP2	SIL FEA	MNZ SP1	MNZ SP2	MNZ FEA	SOC SP1	SOC SP2	SOC FEA	JED SP1	JED SP2	JED FEA	YMC SP1	YMC SP2	YMC FEA

References

1. Allen, Peter (November 12, 2018). "Juri Vips joins Red Bull Junior Team ahead of Macau Grand Prix". FormulaScout. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
2. "Juri Vips wins the final in Junior Max". November 29, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
3. "Prema signs Juri Vips in Formula 4". January 12, 2016. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
4. "Rookie Champion Vips Rounds Out Season with Win". October 30, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
5. "Juri Vips continues in F4 with Prema for 2017". December 20, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
6. "Vips claims ADAC F4 title with third behind Armstrong as Petrov wins finale". December 20, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
7. Simmons, Marcus (September 21, 2017). "Russian Formula Renault Eurocup star tipped for F3 after Prema test". Autosport. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
8. Simmons, Marcus (11 October 2017). "German F4 champion Vips makes F3 debut". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
9. Allen, Peter (20 February 2018). "ADAC F4 champion Juri Vips seals 2018 F3 seat with Motopark". formulascout.com. Formula Scout. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
10. Simmons, Marcus (22 November 2018). "Ticktum's second Macau GP success". Autosport: 36–41. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019 – via PressReader.
11. "THE RED BULL JUNIOR TEAM AND THE HONDA FORMULA DREAM PROJECT". December 5, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
12. "Vips ends 2019 with lights-to-flag victory in Sochi". FIA Formula 3. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
13. "Record-breaking Vips secures qualifying race pole in FIA F3 World Cup". FIA Formula 3. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
14. "Vips leads from lights-to-flag in Macau Qualifying Race". FIA Formula 3. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
15. Benyon, Jack. "Macau GP: Verschoor beats Vips in thrilling duel". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
16. Thukral, Rachit. "Vips replaces O'Ward for Super Formula finale". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
17. Thukral, Rachit; Klein, Jamie. "Vips laments "stupid" stall on Super Formula debut". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
18. "2019 Official Test & Rookie Driver Test". Super Formula. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
19. Smith, Luke. "Red Bull places Juri Vips in Super Formula for 2020". Crash.net. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
20. Wood, Elliot. "Red Bull junior Juri Vips confirms full-time Super Formula move". Formula Scout. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
21. Wood, Elliot (12 November 2020). "The timeline of Juri Vips' F1 superlicence quest". formulascout.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
22. "Juri Vips to race in Formula Regional Europe with KIC". 28 June 2020.
23. Simmons, Marcus (29 June 2020). "Red Bull Junior Vips adds Formula Regional campaign to his 2020 season". autosport.com. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
24. Klein, Jamie (2020-08-19). "Super Formula news: Juri Vips to miss out on Motegi race". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
25. Klein, Jamie (9 November 2020). "Sasahara to keep Vips' Mugen seat for rest of season". motorsport.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
26. Cooper, Adam (2020-08-21). "Vips to make Spa F2 debut, replacing injured Gelael at DAMS". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
27. Woollard, Craig (2020-08-19). "Sean Gelael ruled out of F2 for six weeks by injury". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
28. "Mugello F2: Lundgaard dominates sprint race, Vips on podium". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
29. Klein, Jamie (16 October 2020). "Vips poised to rejoin Super Formula field at Autopolis". motorsport.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
30. Wood, Elliot (12 November 2020). "Red Bull reveals it recalled Vips from Super Formula to be F1 reserve". formulascout.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
31. Smith, Luke (11 December 2020). "Red Bull junior Vips to race in Formula 2 next year". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
32. Simmons, Marcus (October 19, 2018). "European F3 standout Juri Vips set to join Red Bull F1 junior team". Autosport. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
33. "F2 racers Sato and Vips handed Abu Dhabi tests with AlphaTauri and Red Bull respectively". formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.

External links

• Jüri Vips career summary at DriverDB.com