Paul Ricard kerbs remain despite team complaints

FIA race director Michael Masi has confirmed via the latest edition of his notes that the controversial sausage kerbs will despite Mercedes and Red Bull both registering complaints on Friday.

In practice one, Valtteri Bottas ran wide at turn two onto the aggressive, yellow sausage kerbs that sit beyond the regular kerbing. Through his error, the Finn caused damage to his Mercedes that team manager reported to carry a bill of potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds.

After Max Verstappen made a similar error in practice two and damaged his front wing, Red Bull team manager Jonathan Wheatley registered his concern whilst also requesting the kerbs be removed.

Masi confirmed to Wheatley the topic would be discussed in the driver's meeting on Friday evening.

The outcome, it is now clear, is that the kerbs will remain in place, this in part down to calls from drivers and teams earlier in the season for harder boundaries that dictate track limits.

Elsewhere, track limits have also been tightened, with turn six, the corner leading onto the Mistral Straight, also now being monitored. Should a driver run wide here in FP3 or during qualifying, their time will be deleted.

In the race, an error at this corner will also count towards a driver's tally which could lead to a penalty if limits are abused frequently.

Other corners being monitored include turns one-five and the turn eight-nine chicane that breaks up the Mistral Straight.