A major talking point during this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring has been the kerbs. With multiple serious accidents this weekend having been linked to the kerbs, many have started to question just how safe these kerbs are.
Nico Rosberg was a victim of the kerb, as his suffered a suspension failure triggered by the violent kerbs. He suffered serious damage to his car, which led to a grid penalty for a gearbox change. Daniil Kvyat also suffered an accident that brought out the red flag during qualifying. Both incidents were caused by the kerbs.
During the FIA press conference following the action on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton spoke up about the danger of the kerbs at the Red Bull Ring:
“I can’t speak on behalf of all the drivers, but for me those yellow kerbs are quite dangerous. We’ve now seen a couple of incidents already. I don’t know how many more of those it’s going to take before a car ends up in the wall and perhaps someone gets hurt. I’m sure Charlie and the FIA are looking at it but that’s definitely an area we can improve. The idea is good, because they definitely don’t want us running wide and using the outside of the circuit but perhaps another solution is going to be needed.”
The kerbs were one of the things that were renovated on the circuit. A yellow sausage kerb was added to prevent the drivers from exceeding the track limits. Daniil Kvyat, Paddy Lowe and Alexander Wurz joined Charlie Whiting on the circuit at the end of the day on Saturday to inspect the kerbs up close. Lowe is the Mercedes technical director. Wurz is the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. Whiting is the race director. Kvyat, Lowe and Wurz all expressed their concerns with the new kerbs, but Whiting has explained that the FIA has no plans to implement changes to the kerbs.
Rosberg Takes Penalty From His FP3 Crash
Vettel Spins In FP2
