How Red Bull's next F1 hopeful turned around his season

Juri Vips made history during the Baku FIA Formula 2 weekend, taking two wins and propelling himself up the drivers' standings, but has he done enough to turn around an unlucky start to the season?

The talented Red Bull junior now sits fourth in the drivers' championship, just three points behind Robert Shwartzman – an old rival from further down the ladder – and 15 points off leader Guanyu Zhou.

It paints a very different picture of where he sat before the weekend in Baku, which he entered sitting 10th in the standings.

Two unlucky weekends started the season, but in Azerbaijan he found “redemption” for his torrid time in Bahrain and kickstarted his race to the title.

He might find himself among tough competition (Zhou has had a very good start to 2021, as have Oscar Piastri and 2020’s highest placed returning driver Robert Shwartzman) but Vips has a history of solid performances and has proved why he has progressed quickly through the formulae.

He won ADAC F4 with Prema Powerteam in 2017 and scored an impressive 114 points in just nine races in Italian F4, taking the podium in all but two of the races where he saw the chequered flag.

Red Bull signed the youngster after he gained their attention during his rookie Euro F3 season, where he was in title contention before Prema pair Mick Schumacher and Shwartzman snatched it away.

Jüri Vips, Motopark Dallara F317 - Volkswagen

Photo by: FIA F3 / Suer

He finished fourth that season and was promoted to FIA Formula 3, where he finished fourth again, leaving him with 20 superlicence points out of the 40 required for Formula 1. But instead of sending him upwards into F2, Red Bull decided to send Vips to Japan to compete in Super Formula, following in the footsteps of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

He was set to line up at the Honda-powered Mugen squad alongside Tomoki Nojiri, fourth in the 2019 points, with the goal of gaining 20 superlicence points – or at least, that’s what Red Bull had planned before the pandemic hit.

He made it to Japan for pre-season testing at Fuji, finishing seventh, but a series of postponements, followed by Japan closing its borders to foreign nationals, ended his Super Formula hopes.

"I feel [the Baku F2 win is] a bit of redemption from Bahrain - because we were going to win the second race there and the gearbox failed" Juri Vips

In a last-minute change of plan, Vips took part in three rounds of Formula Regional European Championship with KIC Motorsport, scoring three podiums but still not earning him enough points to add to his coveted superlicence total.

A bid to return to Japan in time to race there ended up being the wrong move – he completed a two-week quarantine before Mugen decided instead to retain Ukyo Sasahara, who had replaced him for the first three rounds. This meant that when he returned to Europe and had to quarantine again, he missed two FREC rounds, leaving him unable to get a superlicence through that series either.

DAMS’ F2 driver Sean Gelael’s injury worked in Vips’ favour though, and he was called up to contest four rounds of the championship at Spa, Monza, Mugello and Sochi, giving him a flavour of what to expect in 2021. He scored 16 points and managed one podium, at Mugello.

He signed for Hitech Grand Prix in January alongside fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, who was also joining F2 as a rookie and is arguably Vips’ biggest rival this year.

Juri Vips, Hitech Grand Prix and Liam Lawson, Hitech Grand Prix

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

His poor start to the season was largely down to bad luck - he had a disastrous first weekend of the season in Bahrain, being disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement.

Vips started at the back of the grid for the first sprint race and the feature race, and was on the path to take victory in the second sprint race when a downshift issue struck that led to him trundling home in 16th position – as he said himself, “almost laughable” luck.

Things barely improved in Monaco. He qualified third fastest, which put him in fifth for the first race, but he was unable to improve on his place. In the second sprint race he secured third place but struggled in the feature race to finish in eighth, taking 22 points for the whole weekend.

He started the weekend in Baku 10th in the standings, trailing his team-mate, but managed second in qualifying.

With the new reverse grid format, he started the first race in ninth, but only made up one position in the race, and afterwards said he had a lot to learn. But clearly he had learnt it by Saturday afternoon, taking a decisive victory – his first in the series.

Afterwards, he said he was “relieved to get [his first win] under my belt” and believes he is now on an “upward trajectory.”

“It felt very good, I feel it’s a bit of redemption from Bahrain because we were gonna win the second race there and the gearbox failed, so it was kind of a relief crossing the line with everything going well,” he said in a post-race press conference.

Race winner Juri Vips, Hitech Grand Prix

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

“Another positive is that we have another opportunity to do the same tomorrow, so yeah, happy.”

And that’s exactly what he did, taking a decisive win in Sunday’s feature race, putting him fourth in the drivers' standings and importantly, 13 points clear of Lawson, who is in eighth.

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Red Bull will be watching the pair, along with fellow junior Jehan Daruvala at Carlin, closely – this is their chance to impress and potentially win themselves a Formula 1 seat for next season. Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda all have contracts which expire at the end of 2021, and should Red Bull decide not to extend them, Vips, Lawson and Daruvala could be next in line, so Vips’ pivotal weekend in Baku will be crucial in turning around his season.

Can he do enough to keep his Formula 1 dream alive? If he continues to display the promise he has thus far, there’s no reason to believe otherwise

So, after all that, where does Vips find himself? With more weekends like that, it looks like contention for the title. If he can “get on top of the little things,” as he put it, and continue improving, there’s no reason to believe Vips can’t take the championship this year if he is consistent and avoids any car problems or major mistakes.

And can he do enough to keep his Formula 1 dream alive? If he continues to display the promise he has thus far, there’s no reason to believe otherwise. The only obstacle he may face is the never-ending jostle for space in a crowded field. With two other Red Bull juniors to contend with, not to mention current F1 drivers who might be looking for a change, there are always too many drivers and not enough seats.

But if Vips continues “gaining momentum,” as he said, there’s no reason to believe he would struggle to find himself in an F1 seat come 2022.

Juri Vips, Red Bull Racing RB16

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images