Verstappen: “Better to put a wall” than high kerbs
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has taken his anti-kerb stance a step further at the Red Bull Ring by suggesting it would be “better to put a wall” than the aggressive yellow kerbs that have been deployed this weekend.
The Dutchman suffered two incidents in the opening free practice session that twice damaged his Red Bull – once at Turn 8 and then at Turn 5, which ended his session prematurely.
“The problem is I understand we have to respect the track limits, but it’s better to put a wall there then,” said Verstappen, who had also ranted over the radio about them.
“Because, I mean, I destroyed two front wings and a front suspension. Yeah, I think it’s a bit too high, but at the other end we have to stay off it as well.
“You try to [avoid them] but at Turn 1 I think it would be better just to have one straight kerb, rather than several small ones.”
When asked what he'd learnt from the incidents, he added: “The kerbs are very high and hard for the car! I just ran out of space really, I touched the kerbs and they destroyed the track rod so I couldn't turn any more.
“I didn't expect them to be that hard for the car.”
Happy with pace so far
Verstappen ended the session eighth quickest, 0.8s off the pace of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.
“The pace was good before [the kerb incidents] happened,” said Verstappen. “It didn’t affect us too much. And then FP2 was good again. Of course, you’d like to run a bit more but it was not too bad.
“I didn’t expect to be that close [to the pace], but tomorrow we have to see what happens with Mercedes. I’m quite happy. Of course, [it was] shorter than I wanted but for the laps I got were pretty good.”
When asked what weather conditions he'd prefer, he replied: “I hope it rains, with storms. That will be very good for us.”
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble
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