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Red Bull junior driver Juri Vips is determined to prove his worth in hopes of landing an F1 seat in the near future.
Vips is a member of the team's prestigious junior program helmed by Dr. Helmut Marko. The 21-year-old is currently driving in F2 and will run for Hitech GP in the upcoming 2022 season.
The Estonian tested for the Milton Keynes-based team at the end of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vips drove the RB16B, the car that would take Max Verstappen to his maiden world title.
With a multitude of young talented drivers vying for the coveted seats in F1, Vips has revealed he has not been told that winning the F2 title is a condition he has to meet in 2022. Instead, Red Bull want him to prove his worth for a drive in F1.
Vips spoke about the aspirations he has and the expectations he has set for himself during an interview on F2.com. He said:
“I don’t have a certain set goal from Red Bull that I have to win the title or anything. I just have to prove I am F1 worthy At the test, it was cool to see the difference between the two Red Bull cars, the changes and the improvements they made between the two years.”
Vips was ecstatic to be behind the wheel of the RB16B, with the Estonian saying:
“Any day you drive an F1 car – especially a championship-winning one – is amazing. It felt very surreal because it was only a couple of days after they won the championship. It felt very special. Those days are very important because it is a direct communication to the team of what your performance is like. Of course, they can judge you in F2, but when you drive the F1 car they have the exact details and can really tell how good or bad you are.”
Red Bull has multiple young drivers waiting in the wings for F1 promotion
In his quest to ascend to F1, Juri Vips faces stiff competition in F2 from his own Red Bull junior team colleagues.
Reigning F3 champion Dennis Hauger and Jehan Daruvala of India will run for Prema Racing and are expected to dominate F2.
The Estonian will also have to battle it out against Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa, who will race for Carlin and DAMS, respectively.
The Austrian team's principal Christian Horner has a reputation for championing young talent over the years. His team has produced two of the youngest F1 world champions of all time in Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
With Sergio Perez's contract running out at the end of the 2022 season, it will come as no surprise if Horner and Dr. Marko choose to shuffle the deck and bring in fresh talent from the junior team.
