"The English media has unleashed such a sh*t storm" - Here's why Red Bull 'had no choice' but to terminate Juri Vips' contract

Red Bull's chief advisor has admitted that the outrage in the media was one of the major reasons behind Juri Vips being removed from the team. Speaking to Motorsport.com, Marko said Red Bull was on the back foot from the media backlash and had no choice but to release Juri Vips. Helmut Marko said:

“The English media has unleashed such a shit storm that Red Bull Racing had no choice but to remove him from office. I personally think: he is 21 years old and has apologized. What bothers me is that it happened during a stupid video game because they have nothing better to do in the afternoon. I don’t understand how you can do that for more than two minutes, but hey, that’s the youth. I can’t do anything with it. Max does it too, sim racing.”

He said:

“You can’t compare that. It is also about the entire development of both as individuals. Max has always been on the edge in this area, and of course the pressure from the media and sponsors at Vips was so great that we had to take action.”

Juri Vips, a former Red Bull junior driver, was released by the team for using the N-word in a livestream because of which he faced a lot of backlash.

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Red Bull was faster in the French GP: Helmut Marko

To accentuate his point, Marko specifically mentioned the French GP where Max Verstappen was stuck behind Charles Leclerc for the first 10 laps of the race. Marko said:

“I certainly don’t agree: in Le Castellet, Max was faster in the race. If you can stay within a second for ten laps, it shows that you are the faster. In that race we had the faster car. It is balanced throughout the season. It comes down to the form of the day and updates. They always work for one or two races, but also don't cause significant power shifts.”

Max Verstappen now enjoys an 80-point advantage in the championship over Charles Leclerc and is the runaway favorite to win the title.