FIA warns against knee-jerk removal of sausage kerbs

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has dismissed the need for a “knee-jerk” review of all sausage kerbs at the remaining circuits this season in the wake of the airborne Formula 3 accident at Monza.

F3 driver Alex Peroni’s car was thrown into the air after hitting a sausage kerb on the exit of Parabolica, causing it to flip over several times before landing on top of the tyre barrier.

Peroni was able to walk away from the crash site, and was discharged from hospital on Thursday after only sustaining a broken vertebra.

The sausage kerb at the exit of Parabolica was removed immediately after the F3 race ahead of the final F1 practice session, and was absent for the remainder of the weekend.

But Masi – who also serves as the FIA’s safety delegate – said there would not be a review of every similar kerb at the upcoming tracks. The next grand prix, Singapore, has a number of sausage kerbs on the circuit.

“I think the current approach that we have is as it is. We will have a look at how that incident occurred, what happened, the reasons, the inputs, and go from there,” Masi said.

“Everything from Singapore, and I was there prior to Belgium, looks to be coming along quite well. So I think we’ll look at each case on its merits, and just have a look at it and go from there. We’ll see what the various simulations come back with and go from there.

“I wouldn’t pre-empt anything. Let’s remember all of these circuits have an FIA Grade 1 licence that are all homologated in the manner in which they are with all the inherent safety installations, kerbs, installations behind kerbs.

“They’re all inspected in accordance with our rigorous regime. It would be naïve to think there would be a knee-jerk to anything like that.”