Heightened kerb at Turn 2 'not a solution, just temporary' says Di Resta

Although Max Verstappen topped the timing sheet in FP2, much of the talk was about the yellow rumble strips at Turn 2. The heightened kerb caused both Valtteri Bottas, in the morning and Verstappen, in the afternoon, to damage their front wing as a result of going slightly wide. It has been criticised by both teams, and Mercdes and Red Bull have asked Michael Masi to removed them ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

Speaking to Sky Sports, pundit and former F1 driver Paul Di Resta sympathises with the two top teams, and believes the heightened kerb should be removed. He said: "It's definitely thousands of pounds worth of damage...

"I don't understand why they've put them in. They trialled them at the Red Bull Ring, three or four years ago, tried to reintroduce them in the years after and they kept breaking cars. You can't put kerbs that way against a Formula 1 car because it seems to do a lot of damage. What you need to is, which is what they do at the Red Bull Ring at turn one, they put them along the width of the way the track goes, and the car can straddle on top of them and it doesn't damage them. It's the angle and the sudden shock which cracks the wing.

"It's not necessarily what the kerb does, it's the impacts and the oscillations through the carbon parts. I definitely [have sympathy with Mercedes]. It's not the right thing, you've got to find other solutions.

"If you're going to come to tracks with tarmac runoff areas like this, if it was grass or a wall you wouldn't be talking about it. It's not a solution, it's just temporary." 

Will they be removed?

Masi sounded firmly against the idea of removing them when he spoke to both Mercedes and Red Bull on the radio, but if every team starts complaining, he may need to take action.