Verstappen wants changes to “dangerous” kerbs

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen called for changes to the new kerbs at the Red Bull Ring after damaging his car twice during today’s first practice session.

Verstappen described the new kerbs as “unbelievable” on the radio to his team. “The yellow kerbs in the fast corners are really dangerous,” he added. The Red Bull driver broke a front wing on one at the exit of turn eight and damaged his suspension on another at turn five.

New kerbs damaged Verstappen’s car
Speaking to Sky after the second practice session Verstappen said the kerbs should be changed again.

“The problem is, I understand that we have to respect the track limits,” he said.

“But it’s better to put a wall there, then, because I destroyed two front wings and a front suspension. So I think it’s a bit too high. But at the other end we have to say off them as well.”

Verstappen suggested the kerbs should be more like those at turn one. “I think it is a better idea to have a straight kerb, a bigger one instead of like small ones.”

Rain during the second session further restricted Verstappen’s running during today’s practice sessions. However he was encouraged by the performance shown by his Red Bull.

“I think the pace was good before that happened and again in FP2 was good.” he said. “Of course you’d like to run a bit more but not too bad.”

Verstappen was within eight-tenths of a second of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in second practice. “I didn’t expect to be that close,” he said. “Of course tomorrow we have to wait and see what happens with Mercedes. But I’m quite happy.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    66 comments on “Verstappen wants changes to “dangerous” kerbs”

    1. No, don’t listen to Verstappen! The kerbs are a challenge and are therefore a good thing. Verstappen can’t blame the kerbs for his mistakes. He went wide by himself, the kerbs didn’t tell him to.

      1. @ultimateuzair Exactly! The walls in Monaco and Baku shouldn’t be removed because someone hits them, neither should these kerbs.

        1. Hah, because they are kerbs?
          The vast majority of kerbs on other tracks, the ones that don’t kill cars, are wrong then?

          1. You’re missing the point completely. You’re probably a Verstappen fan.

          2. If the kerbs break your car, don’t touch them. Easy. The only problem I have with the big sausage kerbs is with them launching cars, but that’s not what he’s complaining about.

          3. petebaldwin (@)
            1st July 2016, 16:21

            No – the yellow curbs are a car’s width off the track. They are safer than a wall and do less damage to cars that hit them. They should be treated the same as walls though – don’t touch them.

            1. @petebaldwin bingo. verstappen is completely in the wrong here. i hope they keep the curbs.

            2. @petebaldwin, I believe that the kerbs are actually more than a car’s width away from the edge of the track in some locations (I believe it was mentioned that those kerbs are 3m away from the edge of the track).

              If that is correct, then if Verstappen were hitting those kerbs on a regular basis – which presumably is the case if he has damaged the car so frequently – it implicitly tells us that he must be consistently exceeding the track limits (i.e. he must have all four wheels off the track, and by a fairly large margin as well).

      2. He did not say “let us go wide” he said change the profile of the kerbs. It’s not about removing them is about making them make the drivers lose time instead of destroying the cars.
        If you want drivers not to go too wide you wouldn’t put nails and spike there would you?

        1. The fact is, he’s wrong.

          1. @ultimateuzair

            In your opinion, you are on the one who has to drive and risk their life.

            He is right, if your intentions is to destroy any car that makes a mistake, then go to the extreme but I want drivers to take risks but the punishment is too harsh.

            1. *not the one*

            2. He’s just wrong though. You can’t just tell the stewards to change the kerbs if you made a mistake by going wide and hitting them. His own fault, and nothing else to blame. He’s being sore.

            3. @ultimateuzair

              Well, if you think it’s dangerous you are perfectly entitled to say that.

        2. If you change the kerbs so they wont damage cars drivers WILL take advantage of that by exceeding track limits (cheating)……leave them alone i say.

      3. @ultimateuzair I think that the patch of artificial grass should be enough. Plus the gravel is just there.

      4. I’m sorry but Max is wrong, his mistakes caused the problems not the kerbs and to be honest since his maiden win he has not exactly covered himself in glory …… I think this is a case of a very talented driver pushing too hard.

    2. Sergey Martyn
      1st July 2016, 15:57

      “it’s better to put a wall there”
      Also the flame-throwers and the Mighty Lord Humungus – the warrior of the Wasteland and Ayatollah of Rocka-Rolla!
      Hey Max, please quit watching Jos’ movies on VHS!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfL4xKQeSfo

    3. rick bradner
      1st July 2016, 16:38

      “it’s better to put a wall there”
      because a wall will destroy the entire car but the kerbs destroy your (Red Bull) wings – LOL
      hilarious!

    4. I fully agree with Verstappen here. I hope FIA can put up a wall there overnight so Verstappen can properly crash his car instead of mearly damaging his wings.

      1. Let’s see what happens when one of Charlies angels hits the kerbs and starts moaning.
        Probably it will be changed directly when Button or Lewis starts complaining in a similar fashion , haha

        Of course VES should stay away from the kerbs, but if you drive over a kerb and you break your suspension, then probably the kerb is too harsh on the fault you make; or at every circuit every yellow kerb should have the same impact on the suspension. I hardly doubt if that’s the case.
        But what about the way Hamilton got off the track, did not break and almost collided with Grosjean when he came back onthe track.
        Grosjean handled the situation very correctly and avoided a collision, but I know for sure Hamilton would have hit the roof if it was the other way around.
        Should Lewis not be reprimanded for that, like any other driver in a similar situation?
        But then raising the question is answering the question with Charly Whiting as a steward, haha

      2. Wehrlein’s team-mate Rio Haryanto also was handed his first reprimand of the season after rejoining the circuit in an unsafe manner in front of the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo following an off track moment.
        No reprimand for Hamilton in a similar situation, joke of the day?

        1. Go watch the replay’s and stop making stupid statements …. completely different situation, from what I saw Hamilton finished his spin partially on the track, which is completely different from the Ricciardo/Haryanto incident.

      3. While I wouldn’t go quite as far as @rethla , I am amused that Max is complaining about something causing damage and then proposes something even more damaging.

        Changing his line to avoid the area, and perhaps changing the angle of his argument, would be more productive.

    5. while its easy to say ‘don’t go wide & you wont damage your car’, what if your forced wide by another car or if your having to go wide to avoid a spun car or some debris thats lying on the track…. in those situations you should not be at risk of damaging your car.

      there is also a risk that hitting these kurbs could cause a car to go airborn as happened at spa a month or so ago at eau rouge for instance.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CwPQtyhNzQ

      you also have to ask the question of how it can be considered safe to have big bits of wing flying around, we saw the bit that fell of verstappens car end up on the track, had another car been close behind him that bit of wing could potentially have struck the drivers head as happened to james hinchcliffe during an indycar race a few years ago.

      1. Play a videogame if you dont wanna be at risk destroying your car.

        If you go off track preventing cardamage is not prioritised no matter why you went off.

        1. The only thing I don’t like is the inconsistency in the stewardship about going off track. Drivers go off track all the time but it’s only a problem if it happens “too much” or you “gained advantage” which is left up to the whims of stewards.

          I’ve been thinking they should treat the white lines as virtual walls, and crossing them causes an automatic penalty. Such as a time penalty. Perhaps allow cancelling the penalty if it was something where the driver obviously lost more time (spun off etc.)

          Drivers pushing other drivers off track would need to be punished harshly as well (should be easy enough to verify).

          Then kerbs could just be kerbs.

        2. @rethla

          This is real life, unlike in a computer game, it can have real and serious consequences. If someone has a suspension failure, it can lead to a serious crash.

          Go and play a computer game if you want to see cars crash and be damaged.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        2nd July 2016, 9:53

        What if you have to go wide at Monaco or Baku?

    6. Danger?? Omg!! Put in cotton wall coated, duck feathered cushions instead…

    7. Yes, much better to hit a wall than it is to run over the curbs.

    8. For the ones who are okay with the car-killing-kerbs, what the use of the run off areas behind the kerbs anyways…?

      At Baku there where lots of walls, but also lots of run off areas to prevent cars from crashing pushing the limits.
      The kerbs are ment to keep the drivers within the trackilimits, which is fairly okay . If you are over the limit your car might break, I am pretty sure this wasn’t planned for in the design.

      I would be amazed if the yellow kerbs are still there next year.

      1. The keyword is “might”. A wall is a guaranteed destroying your race (and others because the debris don’t cleanup by itself), but kerb like this won’t disintegrate the car into million pieces. Also, even if your car actually break, it will be in the runoff area instead of bouncing back to the track, so that what it’s use for.

        Frankly, if he destroyed 2 wing and a suspension already in same place, he should learnt his method of attacking the corner is not working, don’t blame the kerbs.

        1. As far as I red it, Verstappen admids he should have stayed of the kerbs, quite obvious as the kerbs break down the car.
          As far as I’ve seen FP1 he wasn’t the only one going over the kerbs, but the only one who got unlucky.

          If ‘might’ would be the keyword then we can use that on every potential dangerous move from drivers as well and ban penalties. The fact is the kerbs are dangerously placed in high speed run off areas and can cause high speed crashes.

          The FIA would never intentially place any barriers which can leave a car steerless crashing into the barriers.

          1. So he not the only one who going out of the track and hit the kerbs, but apparently he’s the only one that breaking his car there multiple times. It only shows that he attacking that corner in really wrong way. A car that not respecting track limit is never guaranteed to be in safe environment, whether it by wall, gravel, drainage pit, or high kerbs.

      2. The kerbs don’t automatically kill the car. They damage the car if you choose to go wide. Verstappen made a mistake by going too wide. His own fault. The kerbs are there to stop track-extending, but he chose to do it anyway. I hope that the kerbs are there ext year as they are proving to solve the problem of pathetic 30000 mile runoffs.

      3. The run-offs were put in before the kerbs, and the FIA likes to see evidence a new measure is sufficient to maintain safety before allowing safety features to be removed.

    9. Love Verstappen, he’s one of the few true racers in this field, but he’s wrong here. If the kerbs are indeed more than a car width away from the track, he should not be hitting them. I understand people who say, well, then why the ridiculously large run off areas? This kerb makes those run offs less accessible. But, frankly, that’s a good thing, because run off areas destroy racing by taking the risk out of mistakes. Sorry Max, you’re just wrong here.

    10. If Verstappen likes to go wide then he should pay the price. It is the same for everyone and none of the other drivers had significant problems. Get back to driving and stop complaining Verstappen.

      1. I was wrong and Max was correct these kerbs are not safe.

    11. Wow, a part of track, far beyond white line, that punishes driver going off?

      Cannot have it! Remove it at once.

      :) I love those kerbs. You go off, you get punished. Those should be everywhere…

    12. He’s just saying this because, as Horner said, they only have one remaining spare wing of the current specification. If he breaks it again, I guess he’s going back to an older spec.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        1st July 2016, 22:23

        @optimaximal
        Red Bull running out of wings?

        1. Ricciardo might have to hide his if Verstappen keeps destroying them.

          1. Ricciardo gives you (front) Wings

    13. Still I Rise
      1st July 2016, 21:25

      Maybe if he kept his car on the track he wouldn’t have these problems.

    14. Verstappen always reacts strong opinions about everything he says or does.
      I think that’s great and we have to be thankfull for a racer like Verstappen.
      Only the greatest in any sport has as many admires and haters like Verstappen.
      Tell me honestly; name me three racers for who you turn on you tv on sunday to watch te race. I don’t care our you like him or not but lets us agree that he is a heck of a driver.

      1. He is a great driver, but you have to admit that he is wrong here.

        1. Tenth time you say he’s wrong.
          What is he wrong about then?
          He admits that he should not have hit the kerb.
          But he thinks a kerb should not destroy a car.
          You know a wall is not forgiving.
          You expect a kerb will hinder you but not end the race.

          As said before, why have a run off area behind the kerb?
          What if someone else forces you off, or if you need to avoid an accident, like Ericsson overshooting the pit entry, Haryanto re-entering in a dangerous way, Vettel getting his brake balance wrong, rain, anything?

          If kerbs need to destroy cars, why only here and not everywhere else too?

          1. Dear Bart, we all hope they will be introduced everywhere else for all the reasons written above that you choose to ignore.

    15. Poor Verstappencrash breaking his car again and wants someone to blame. No, the driver is to blame…

      1. Between Monaco and this we’ve seen a lot of drivers crash. Nobody moaned.
        This happens and the worms crawl out.

        1. Err, you would be right if it was not Verstappen, who commented on the curbs. So what worms?

    16. The funny thing is that if you go even wider than VES did there, your car is /not/ damaged. Maybe that is what he meant when he said “then put a wall there”.

      I saw some drivers go around the yellow kerbs there today, but nobody is ridiculing them.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        2nd July 2016, 9:58

        It’s much slower to pull out and go even wider – if you keep your foot planted and go wide (as they would do without these kerbs), you’ll damage your car. If you realise you’re going wide and go the other side of the yellow kerbs it costs you time as it should if you make a mistake.

    17. The only issue I have with these raised kurbs & indeed the other types of sausage kurbing is the risk of cars getting launched.

      Under normal circumstances where you just run over them as Verstappen did today you damage your own car & there’s no real drama, But if you have a failure, have contact with another car or simply make a mistake that causes you to hit these raised areas the wrong way the risk of cars been launched into the air becomes a real concern.
      Let us not forget that the whole reason kurbs were lowered to begin with was because cars had been launched into some pretty massive accidents (Rubens at Imola in 1994 been the most obvious example but its not the only one).

      1. SPA as well, kerbs which launched a car right in to the air.

        Kerbs define tracklimits, not ment to endanger drivers who are going wide, it’s simple design fault.

        1. @matn No, there is a white line that defines tracklimits.

    18. ColdFly F1 (@)
      2nd July 2016, 5:50

      Amazing all these comments here; not sure what everybody ate.

      Verstappen himself says that he should stay off of them.
      And the wall comment is clearly sarcastic.

      Anything Verstappen (or Hamilton for that matter) says or does seems to split the readers in 2 extreme camps.
      It feels a bit like Brexit; Maxit maybe?

      1. Hamexit?

    19. I agree with Vestappen, I don’t care if it’s off the line. If it has potential to be dangerous it shouldn’t be there.

      The last thing we need is a suspension failure half way down a straight.

    20. jayteeniftb
      2nd July 2016, 6:43

      Actually Verstappen is right about the nature of this solution but for all the wrong reasons. Typical 18 year old.

    21. Hans Braakhuis
      2nd July 2016, 10:40

      Yes Rosberg was also wrong..

    22. Hans Braakhuis
      2nd July 2016, 13:16

      Kvyat now also knows what Max means…

    23. Ok so actually he was right

    Comments are closed.