Born on 10 August 2000 in Tallinn, Estonia, Vips demonstrated extraordinary ability in mental mathematics from a young age, appearing on a national talent show before turning his focus to motorsport. He began karting in 2011 and won the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in the Junior category in 2014. Moving to single-seaters in 2016, he joined Prema Powerteam in Italian and ADAC Formula 4, winning the ADAC F4 title in 2017 in a head-to-head battle with teammate Marcus Armstrong that was resolved on the final lap of the season at Hockenheim.
In Formula 3, Vips won the FIA Formula 3 European Championship round at Macau in qualifying pace — he set the outright lap record at the 2019 Macau Grand Prix in qualifying, converting pole into a win in the qualifying race before finishing second in the main event behind Richard Verschoor. He also finished fourth in the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019 with Hitech Grand Prix, winning at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone. His speed attracted Red Bull, who signed him to their junior programme.
Vips made his Formula 2 debut mid-season in 2020 as an emergency replacement for injured DAMS driver Sean Gelael, parachuted in from Super Formula obligations in Japan that the pandemic had disrupted. Racing at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, he finished narrowly outside the points in all four races at those venues. He returned for the Mugello round, finishing seventh in the feature race and third in the sprint — his first F2 podium. His points tally from the partial season was modest, but his speed relative to teammates and established runners was noted.
Vips made his full-time F2 debut in 2021 with Hitech Grand Prix alongside Liam Lawson. His campaign featured both spectacular highs and frustrating mechanical unreliability. At Bahrain he was excluded from qualifying for a technical infringement but recovered to tenth in the opening race, setting up reverse-grid pole for sprint two — only for a gearbox failure to rob him of a likely win from second place.
Monaco brought his first formal podium, promoted to third after Lawson was disqualified from sprint race two. In Baku, Vips delivered the headline performance of his F2 career to that point: he won both the sprint race and the feature race, becoming the first driver to win two Formula 2 races in a single weekend. He described the double as "redemption" after his Bahrain misfortune.
He followed Baku with multiple further podiums, including a second place in sprint one at Silverstone, and led for long stretches at Monza before falling to eighth as the race turned against him. Mechanical failures — notably in both races at Sochi — denied him a stronger championship position. He finished the season sixth with 120 points and three places higher than teammate Lawson.
Vips continued with Hitech in 2022, partnered by former Formula 4 teammate Marcus Armstrong. He showed improved qualifying form, taking pole at Imola and Baku, and returned to the podium with third at Monaco in the feature race. At Baku he led the feature race with a handful of laps remaining before crashing out in the Castle section — one of several near-misses that characterised a season of potential undermined by incident.
In June 2022, Vips was suspended by Red Bull following an incident during a Twitch livestream in which he used a racial slur while playing an online video game alongside teammate Liam Lawson. Following an investigation, Red Bull terminated his contract as a reserve and test driver. Team boss Oliver Oakes at Hitech permitted him to continue racing in F2. He took his sole victory of 2022 at Monza in the sprint race, passing Frederik Vesti for the lead. He ended the season eleventh with 114 points before losing his F2 seat for 2023, with Vips publicly acknowledging it was "quite difficult" to find a new berth.
Vips' Formula 2 record — two back-to-back wins at Baku and consistent front-row pace — marked him as a genuine talent whose career trajectory was altered by off-track events rather than a deficit in driving ability. His subsequent moves to IndyCar with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and IMSA endurance racing kept his career active, but the lost Red Bull pathway cut off what had appeared the most direct route to Formula One for the quickest driver to emerge from Estonia's small motorsport pool.