These Stupid Things Need To Be BANNED 

Haven't watched the video, but if I see a video about banning sausage kerbs, I click like.

It’s terrifying when you realize without the halo, some of those crashes would’ve been fatal.

I've always been a fan of the idea used at some turns at Silverstone: the thin green line. You have the edge of the track, then a metre of grass; anyone who abuses track limits is punished with the loss of traction from driving on the green. But beyond that, *then* you have tarmac run off, so that anyone who completely loses it doesn't just skip off the grass into the barriers.

The 4 horseman aston was a serious eye opener for me. Ive seen formula cars destroyed plenty but watching a GT car be torn apart like that was very scary to watch.

You know it's serious when Josh mentioned Gelael without being followed-up by "bruh".

Honestly the abrasive tire eating surface sounds like the best idea, just have straight sandpaper outside track limits lol

I've always asked myself why after the Peroni crash '19 they held onto these kerbs. The guy literally flew higher than the fences... and we saw how fragile those thing are on Zhous crash in Silverstone.

BTW, for anyone wondering about the "McDonnell Douglas approach" Josh makes at 6:47, here's some context on what I think he's referring to with that (this is gonna be a very brief simplified version of the crash - for more details I'm gonna link a really good Medium article about it at the bottom of this comment which goes into a lot of detail of the whole story) McDonnell Douglas was an American aircraft manufacturer which produced multiple different aircraft, one of these being the three engine wide-body airliner known as the DC-10. In 1972, issues with the DC-10's cargo doors had been discovered after one of them was blown off of an American Airlines flight leaving Ontario, Canada, and the subsequent investigation into the accident had recommendations for major design changes. However, due to a variety of factors, the actual design changes ended up being fairly minor and on one DC-10 that was later sold to Turkish Airlines, some of these changes were never actually made. In 1974, this very plane would suffer another cargo door failure, and would crash into a forest just outside of Paris, killing all 346 people onboard - at the time the worst aviation disaster in history. The subsequent investigation and digging by journalists would then find out that people at McDonnell Douglas and sub-contracted companies who had worked on the DC-10 had known about these issues long before the 1972 American Airlines incident and had also known that it could lead to a major incident but did nothing about it, with McDonnell Douglas even avoiding major penalties for the 1972 incident via a gentlemen's agreement between one of the Presidents of McDonnell Douglas and the head of the Federal Aviation Authority. After the Turkish Airlines crash however, the jig was up - McDonnell Douglas was forced to make major design changes to the cargo door and had to payout HUGE amounts of cash in a lawsuit that had been brought against them by the victims of the 1974 crash. Yeah, you can see why our mate Josh made that comparison now? Not doing anything about a major issue until it ends up killing someone. Anyway, here's the article. admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-legal-and-moral-question-the-crash-of-turkish-airlines-flight-981-and-the-dc-10-cargo-door-saga-d22f0b9fa689

"Should we wait for one of these cars to clear the fences" Well, Floresch did and they didnt care

I'm surprised none of the drivers didn't threatened to sue the FIA because those things are literally a 1000 lawsuits

I remember in 2012 Vergne from Toro Rosso losing the car from having a broken DRS at the end of the straight in Monza, spinning backwards onto the sausage kerb at the first corner, obviously launched airbourne and nearly rolled. I'm surprised nobody addressed the issue at the time, and that was ELEVEN years ago!

This is your best video yet, Josh. VERY well said! The "three brain cells" at the FIA absolutely need to heed all the warning signs because this is getting ridiculous. I love racing and I hate seeing drivers injured.

Finally someone is addressing this again! Sausage kerbs are a cancer in the racing scene! Thank you for bringing this up

The most alarming recent incident is the Porsche that ended up in the grandstands at Portimao a few weeks ago because of a sausage kerb. Fortunately, the grandstand was not crowded, but it could have ended in tragedy...

What’s even more bizarre, Peroni didn’t break his vertibrae landing on the fence, he broke them on impact with the sausage kerb

"Are they waiting for the unthinkable to happen?" Yes, yes they are because it's cheaper for them to wait for a death and wait for the new standards to handed down than explore options of replacements and need to replace those if they don't meet the standards which is the sad/scary part

Let's hope this gets more traction than I've managed to. Well done mate.

I was at turn 1 at COTA in Austin 2021. And Christian Weir's and Abbie Eaton's trip into the sky was almost identical. Wasn't until after Abbie got hurt too that they removed the kerb in between sessions.

My kids and I were at the NASCAR race at Indianapolis in 2021. Between turns 5 and 6. Right where a car (Byron) oil pan was ripped off by a kerb (Scott McLaughlin the previous day and Bubba Wallace went airborne there). We have a field of 3500lb stock cars coming right at us hitting the barrier. Scary and wild.

I knew sausage kerbs were pretty sketchy, but I never knew they were that dangerous! great vid as always Josh!

6:50 "Are you really going to take the Mcdonnell Douglas approach of fixing things?" As a avgeek myself, this hits perfectly. Also, what MD was back in the 70s is just like Boeing nowadays, the ways that both companies deal with problems are shit.

They should use sensors like in MotoGP. Probably the only thing those stewards do right imo. If you go onto the green paint it’s a warning and after 5 warnings maybe give a 5 second penalty?

Replace the inside kerb area with very low grip surface, such as polished concrete or painted surfaces, that provide little benefit to drive over while loaded up in a turn.

I like the landmine idea, or maybe outside of the regular kerbs there's a bunch of white paint that is constantly kept wet so they spin if they go too far out of track limits.

Sausage Kerbs DO have a purpose, it shows how important halos are

I had no IDEA how prevalent the injuries to drivers were. Very eye opening. 👍👍🏁

here's an idea the FIA might like: replace the sausage kerbs, infact might as well replace every kerb, with razorsharp knives and blades. make them rotate and set fire to them, add a little bit of brick wall behind that and you've got yourself a track limit enforcing border with 100% chance of punishing those overextending, with shredded tires, suspensions, floorbodies, and humans

My opinion is either grass, or much more strict policing of track limits. Heck you could probably make an auto detect system that detects track limit violations automatically with something like a wire running around the edges of the track and transponder in each car that detects when it crosses said wire, or something like that. Better than having kerbs causing crashes.

Honestly it feels like the teams aren't pushing enough. We all know how stubborn the FIA can be, they don't really care if fans or a few drivers speak out about it. One way is to have all the teams collectively protest against it seriously, force the FIA to hear them. The sadder other way is like you said, wait for the unthinkable to happen so the FIA finally open their damn eyes

They could lead to truly horrific crashes like Le Mans in 1955 or Tony Renna's crash testing at Indy.

Suggestion 1: replace sausage kerbs with infrared lasers (like on a computer mouse). If the beam is broken, race control gets a notification. Then they can go back and watch the footage to see who broke the beam - apply penalty. Suggestion 2: Replace kerbs that define track limits with extremely slippery surfaces like teflon. If a driver goes too far over the track limits, they spin out.

I agree. The problem is that the FIA is reactive not pro-active. They're understaffed and try to bend the stick until it'll inevitably and sadly break. The other problem is that teams who speak out about those things might get hindered by another one for pure competitiveness. We just need to remember how the Halo was implemented and how some teams and even drivers (I know...) were vehemently against it until the FIA stepped up and forced it on safety measures ground. Sadly, some human beings are stupid.

Trackside sensors might be a very good solution. Five seconds for every curb encroachment. Maybe you get a stop and go under green in the last laps of the race, with the hold time based on how many penalties you accrued, so the results on the track correlate to the time penalties. It would be a boatload of money to put them in, but if a track can put on an F1 show, they can make the investment.

Only sausage I want to have is one grilled in fire.

"The McDonell Douglass aproach to fixing things" had me rolling (for those of you that don't know, McD knowingly sold planes with faulty cargo doors and didn't fix them until a door blowout killed 350 people)

Hats off to you Josh. Your videos are awesome. Your personality and narration are amazing. I hope someone in FIA watched this and get their priorities straight.

Absolutely agree with you. Any other F1/FIA content makers watching this, I'm sure he's not going to mind you making a video on the same subject. The quickest way to get the fans' feelings to their attention would be for all social media "names" to do the same thing at the same time.

Love ya Josh, keep up the good work!

For what it's worth, I always liked the slippy astroturf strips before the runoff, it makes it slower to cut the corner and they were normally followed by tarmac runoff for safety reasons, which is hard to exploit for a time advantage since if the strips are wide enough you have to cut so far that you're going to get a time penalty. They did have some problems, they were a lot better at preventing you from extending entry/exit than they were at preventing you from cutting the apex, since it's a shorter distance across the turf rather than along it. They also often needed repairs, though the similar slippy wood planks achieved similar things while being more reliable. However, the main reason they got axed at most circuits is because they were unsafe for motorcycle racing.

Yup agreed @JoshRevell. On another point, as much as i love DRS, i kinda wish it wouldn't be allowed and or more be used more restrictively. it's a hot take, but when teams such as redbull are gaining so much because of it, i feel as though in general, not just for the sake of RB dominating, that it should be either pushed back in the initial laps (2 to 3or4) or something along those lines. And the concept of changing, and/or restricting DRS doesn't entirely get rid of it, because the fans love the close actions and overtaking, but it would really then bring the core of the car design (aero and much more) AND engines back into the main factors that determine RAW top speed. Just an opinion :) On that note, i have no negative bias towards RB, they are absolutely killing it. And as a long term Checo fan, i support the team, and many others... mercedes' big 'Sir Lewis Hamilton'

Yes Get this thing out of racing I said it on the other video but it seems that FIA will only react when someone gets killed, just like in the gOoD oLd DaYs

I remember the first race at Charlottes roval. That back stretch chicane was brutal on the cars and the Kerbs were bad. They adjusted it. It still Has unnessecarly large one but it’s less likely to launch a car now

I think the curbs they used at the 2008 singapore GP were pretty good. You lose time of you take too much both entry and exit. And they wouldnt be able to 'launch' someone up so high in the air

Turn them into Virtual Crash Zones. Paint the area orange and if a driver goes over it they're out of the race. Safe and fair. Keep it on the track.

Finally someone is making this video! I complained about this in a Feeder Series article about a year ago after Partyshev’s injury, and the fact that they exist is bs

Absolutely agree with you 100% They may have been a deterrence back in the day to an extent but now are a nuisance. The cars are running lower and faster than ever. It's just a matter of time before there is a fatality due to these God awful sausage kerbs.

I used to race against Christian Weir. It was pretty cool to hear you mention him in this video. Sucks what happened but it’s still kinda cool that I personally know one of the people mentioned in this video

Nearly pissed myself at the “McDonnall Douglas” approach joke 🤣

I like the idea of the kerb at the beginning of the long run to the finish at Baku. Was it Russell that went a little wide this weekend and it didn't injure him, but it definitely slowed him down and cost him a bit of time... all while not throwing him into the barrier at the end of it.

I was there when Abbie Eaton had her first race back in her Dad's Holden. The amount of pain and struggle that she has been through was clear. Those damn kerbs need to be banned or we should send officials over them in carbon fibre cars at 100mph.

Agreed, when it goes wrong with those kerbs, it can go very wrong.

Driver: Runs a little wide. Sausages kerb: "You have chosen.....death"

Cadillac number 3 crashed in the 6 hrs of spa this year and that was primary due to suspension bottoming out and the sausage Krebs bruh

Just do the IndyCar way: no track limits rules, because there's grass around the track.

I swear, the FIA is asleep at the wheel. Safety should not be optional in this environment.

6:59 It’s funny, because that was one of the first things to ever happen, and when the fans rioted over it, the FIA did nothing

Would rumble strips work? Sure it would be a bumpy ride, but the high point is equal to the track surface and the low point is a few cm (or a few dozen mm if you prefer mm), I don't think this would cause the cars to fly up in the air, more like significant bottoming out.

I agree, Stefano Dominicalli needs to banned

"Sure a house was pretty good at racecar back in the day" I laughed too much for how dark it was, that's an amazing argument

The best way to discourage track limit violations while retaining the safety benefits of the large runoffs is simple: A 2-meter-wide strip of grass on the outside and inside of every corner. Enough to mess with the grip enough to punish any transgression, whilst the tarmac runoffs remain to slow anyone who goes completely off and out of control.

Totally agree with everything said. That’s why I love this man

I think grass is the option but maybe a very low grip material beyond the kerbs.

These kerbs makes it feel like we're living in the olden days before safety or common sense were invented.

A good solution would be track limit sensors together with strict penalties according to how much track was cut, how many times it was cut, how much time was gained and so on. It won’t be perfect but it would be much better. Drivers can still push without risking injury but be penalised accordingly if they exceed limits

I was half expecting to see your take on the near miss that was Ocon nearly inadvertently ploughing into photographers as the Parc Ferme was being set up before all pit stops had been made. That was scary

Yosh hates the Sausage? /prewatch spoilers yes /postwatch

I think they should remove the sausage curbs and implement a "no touch" zone instead where touching it means getting a track limits warning or penalty.

True, especially after ground effects became a thing: if you hit a curb, you lose downforce. Lose downforce, you become Zhou at Silverstone.

I've grown up doing dirt oval stock cars. I have always wondered why the DRIVERS weren't ever part of the decision making process for track & safety adjustments. Not sure if F1 does as I'm not super-well versed in F1 behind the scenes.

FIA when the see another accident because of sausage cerbs: No, we need to keep them for safety FIA when they see devices, that improves stability and safety: BAN

I'm only just getting into paying attention to racing, and it's BAFFLING that ANYONE in charge would see the first car rocket into the air over one of these and NOT go "oh, right, maybe this isn't safe let's get rid of those and go back to the drawing board." Thank fuck for whoever had the idea of that halo system.

6:38 Sadly, a driver is going to have to die before the FIA will do anything.

Even more respect for Sophia having watched this. I hope she gets into a decent car and then an F1 drive.

Keep it up

I hate to use Paul Ricard as an example, but the high abrasive runoff areas are super effective at keeping drivers on the racing surface. You run wide at 8 a few times and you just lost two laps of life in your tires. That’s the answer. Fight me.

Genuinely jaw-droppingly frightening. I wouldn't want to compete on a circuit that had these in place.

Thank you sir. We love racing but never want to see a driver, team member or fan get hurt due to something that could have completely been avoided.

Agreed. Good job ripping into this. Now we need to make sure this video gets around everywhere. Like and SHARE people!

0:57 "... seeing as this often hindered a drivers results" made me laugh out way to loud

I think that the problem should be solved in the complex: 1) classic curbs should be raised mandatory on all autodromes. Not in V8 Supercars height, but height which was in the 2000s. 2) all autodrome's runoff areas should be tested with CFD. Gravel should be brought where rolling has low risks or will not be harmful. 3) track limits abuse should be punished strictly. Not +5 seconds - drive trough after the second violation (2 intended cuts), stop-and-go after 3rd, and all next.

It's sad that something serious needs to happen in F1 for the FIA to take action...

I love the hot dogs! Without them drivers will just keep cutting the corner over and over.

Knowing the FIA, it’s gonna take someone dying for these sausage curbs to be gone

My boy is straight up spitting fire here. Imagine if this was your legacy: - Go to FIA - Tell them Sausage curbs are bad - Tell FIA to stop being a Manus - FIA stops being a Manus - Chur - Liam Lawson becomes next Kiwi in F1 and takes the WDC

It really does feel like they're waiting for someone to die. When everyone can see the problem and the list of injuries is growing and they still won't do anything, it's pretty clear.

Great Video. Just a reminder, on this May 2nd, that Ayrton Senna had been protesting against the lack of safety of the F1 cars of the early 90s for years, and had considered not racing after Ratzenberger death as a protest.

The only reason to use those would be because it's the only practical and attainable way of enforcing track limits. This may have been the case in 2000s but today, in the era of millimeter precision sensors and instant transmission technology, just automate penalties and dish them out. Why do we need kerbs when we can see exactly when someone extends or cuts instantly on the tracker?

On April 30, 1994, that's pretty much what happened to Roland Ratzenberger: he damaged his car on a high curb, comparable in height and function to these sausage curbs, and the front wing got stuck under the front wheels in a 300 kmh curve...

A few years ago, when NASCAR was racing the Indianapolis road circuit, there was a MASSIVE one of these curbs on the way out of the kink turn. Multiple cars were destroyed, not because a driver was too aggressive, but because the curb actually came up and damaged the cars causing nearly a dozen cars to be retired in the span of about 10 seconds. They gotta end.

6:50 “The McDonnell Douglas approach” caught me off guard for a second 😂

I think one of the easiest fixes would be changing the design of were the kerbs meet either gravel/grass/runoffs with a pattern that will actually slow a car down with odd patterns that put pressure on the tires, thus reducing their speeds.

They claim that safety is a primary concern while placing hazards all around the track.

"Houses are pretty good to stop a racecar. But they are also pretty good to stop a racecar driver from... well... breathing." I loved that. I know i souldn't, but i did.

I think a highly abrasive patch on the curb is a good idea, not something that will kill a tyre on the first touch but where it will damage the tyre in such a way that repeated violation will have a serious impact on over all race time. Have the abrasive patch only where the car isnt allowed to go.

i too hate those "murder twinkies". i also hate the disrespect of the track limits. as an extremely good driver, i have the solution: make those rumble strips EXTREMELY slippery. drivers will avoid them like the plague, and worse that happens is they spin. yes i know they are already slippery, i of course mean "coated in petroleum jelly and banana peels" levels of slippery.

"The McDonnell Douglas approach to fixing things" - now that's a good one!

I remember the F1 drivers breffing in Monaco where Kvyat called it "yellow trampolim" and asked if it would be possible to put a wall like 20 years ago

Thank you for this video. In (Internet-)Germany we say "Richtig und Wichtig", which means: Right and important.

Great video Josh, these things are a menace and need to be taken away. My potential solution? A one or two metre strip of grass lining the circuit before the now traditional run off area. Drivers won't overstep the mark, and if they do, are punished for it with minimal risk of injury

It seems that, in this high-tech era, track-side sensors would make a lot of sense. You could have some sort of green, yellow, red light system. Green: You're inside the track. Yellow: You're on the boundary, but still legal. Red: You just lost X time, and if enough X's occur, you may cross the finish line first but after deductions... you're 4th.