Written by Archie O’Reilly
Graham Rahal has heaped praise on former Red Bull Racing Formula 1 junior and test & reserve driver Juri Vips, now reserve driver at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), as RLL continues to evaluate its replacement options for the outgoing Christian Lundgaard.
“Juri has great professionalism about him,” Rahal said. “He is present. Often when I go into the shop to go work out, to do whatever it is that I’m doing, he’s there. A lot.”
Vips made his IndyCar debut with RLL at Portland International Raceway late in the 2023 season, going on to also start the season finale at Laguna Seca in the team’s No.30 Honda and helping to secure a Leaders’ Circle position. He had tested with the team in 2021 at Sebring International Raceway and earlier in 2023 at Barber Motorsports Park.
The highlight of Vips’ two-race stint was qualifying seventh for his second race, albeit a six-place engine penalty led to a mid-pack start and Lap 1 incident. He finished 18th on debut in Portland.
Since, Vips has remained with RLL in a reserve capacity, often attending races and participating in simulator sessions. Rahal, an experienced head in IndyCar, has credited Vips’ work ethic while waiting for an opportunity to return to a race seat.
“He’s been doing some sim stuff for us,” Rahal said. “But keep in mind we’re regulated on sim days by Honda. It’s not like we can just go to the sim any day that we want - they’re very good partners and they’ve allowed us to utilise the static quite a bit but the motion sim is restricted quite a bit. But Juri has been a pro. He’s been a pro in that regard.”
Vips finally made his third IndyCar start in last weekend’s visit to Portland in a fourth entry for RLL, starting 15th and finishing a respectable 19th after a period out of a car. If he is to run a complete season in IndyCar next year, he will thus maintain his rookie status.
“I thought he was a pro,” Rahal said. “He came in, he was fast right away, struggled a little bit in qualifying, struggled a little bit in the race. But those things are to be expected.”
Vips has been out of a full-time race seat since the end of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season. Across 59 races in F2 - two complete campaigns and one part-season as a rookie - he finished a best of sixth in the championship standings in 2021. He was a three-time race-winner and 12-time podium-sitter.
The Estonian driver, now 24 years old, also finished fourth in FIA Formula 3 as a rookie in 2019. He was already a part of the Red Bull junior set-up by this point.
But in June 2022, midway through his second full F2 campaign, Vips was heard using a racial slur on a Twitch live stream. Following an investigation, he was released as Red Bull’s test & reserve driver. Only one month prior, Vips had participated in a free practice session for the eventual F1 Constructors’ champions.
At the time, Vips released a statement of apology, in which he described the language used as “entirely unacceptable” and said he “deeply” regretted his actions. In the period since the incident, he has completed diversity training programmes and sensitivity courses - both in the United Kingdom and United States.
It was Vips who first asked Hitech GP, with whom he remained for the rest of the 2022 F2 season after the incident, to find a course to help him “to understand what’s offensive and what’s not”. A further course was then run with RLL.
“I made this huge mistake without knowing it’s such a big mistake,” Vips said last August. “I thought it was just a swear word that I was saying. I wanted to know more about it, first of all, so nothing like this can happen again because I don’t know what else I don’t know.
“Then I had a lot of time to reflect on who I disappointed. I had so many fans, so many people cheering for me, so many people that helped me through my career, and I just threw it all away because before this I wasn’t interested in learning about anything. All I cared about was racing.
“That’s, I guess, why I thought the word that I said was a swear word and not way worse than it actually is. Since that I’ve learned a lot…
“I feel like I have grown as a person. I am really grateful for the second chance and I completely understand all the outrage. Now that I understand what the word means, it’s completely justifiable and I am very sorry for everybody that I’ve hurt.”
Vips was keen to spread what he had learned in the RISE Programme, become “a model citizen” and put the past behind him to develop into a better person. Rahal believes Vips remains deserving of a second chance in racing.
“Here’s a gentleman who was one mistake away from probably being Verstappen’s teammate,” Rahal said. “And that’s not just me saying it. That’s a reality.
“He’s had great success on the international racing scene and he deserves a chance in IndyCar racing. He’s a pro in the way that he handles his business and, whether it’s us or it’s somebody else, I hope Juri gets an opportunity to shine because he deserves it.”
Vips is one of a number of candidates for at least one vacant seat at RLL in 2025 as Lundgaard heads to complete Arrow McLaren’s lineup after three full seasons with the team. Another option is Alexander Rossi, who is vacating the No.7 Chevy that Lundgaard is set to take the wheel of.
“I’m close with Alex,” Rahal said. “I’m a cheerleader for him - I always have been. Kept in touch with him very closely since the Andretti days and where he could go.
“Look, the facts are the facts, which is maybe some day I make these decisions. But that day is not today. So I can have my opinions, I can say my piece… that doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen.”
Lundgaard has helped to guide an upturn for RLL in recent years since moving from Formula 2, with his IndyCar stint so far headlined by a race win on the streets of Toronto and a pair of pole positions. It is important for RLL that it gets its replacement right.
“I think what I’m looking for is somebody that helps add to the equation,” Rahal said. “We, as a team, need to be moving forward and we need to improve. And that’s the gist of it. I want somebody that’s going to be able to come in and help me. And help not only me but help the team.
“We need to move forward. We need to try different things. We need to get better. I think we found some good stuff at St. Louis. I’m hopeful that we’re going to start there and find some great stuff for Milwaukee.”
Pietro Fittipaldi’s future in the No.30 Honda is also yet to be confirmed. In the opening 14 races of his first complete IndyCar season - after nine races for Dale Coyne Racing across 2018 and 2021 - he has finished a best of 13th in Detroit and currently sits 20th in the championship standings.
Lundgaard’s success with the team emphasises that opting for new and young blood - mirrored by options such as Vips for 2025 - can work out. But Rahal would also welcome a teammate with an existing pedigree in IndyCar.
“It would be great to have somebody with experience - I have not been shy about that,” he said. “It would be great to have a guy like Alex [Rossi] but obviously Pietro is doing a much better job.
“I think what people don’t see about Pietro is his race pace has always been very strong. He’s a good racer. Qualifying pace, things like that are going to improve. But his race pace is very tough, meaning good. He’s a tough guy; when he’s behind you, he’s on you like a little bulldog.
“Lastly, I’ve said all along Juri deserves a shot. And if it’s not with us, I hope somebody looks at Juri because Juri is a professional. And I understand what’s happened in the past but we need to all move on. We’ve made mistakes in life. We’ve got to move forward. And Juri is a talented, talented human being that deserves an opportunity.”
RLL is not short of potential drivers as pieces continue to edge into place in the silly season puzzle.
“Let’s see what happens here,” Rahal said. “I don’t know right now where we’re at as a team. I don’t know where things are going to end up. But there’s a lot of great options out there, for sure.”
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