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Hamilton wins pole, turns focus on ‘dangerous kerb’
SPIELBERG: Lewis Hamilton wants to see action taken to revise the controversial new ‘baguette’ kerbs that have caused a series of suspension failures in practice
SPIELBERG: Lewis Hamilton wants to see action taken to revise the controversial new ‘baguette’ kerbs that have caused a series of suspension failures in practice and qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The pole- sitting Briton, who claimed his 54th pole for Sunday’s race, said organisers needed to find another solution to the problem of drivers running wide and off-circuit.
“I can’t speak on behalf of all the drivers,” said Hamilton. “But, for me, looking at it, those yellow kerbs are quite dangerous.
“We’ve seen a couple of incidents already — how many more is it going to take before a car ends up in the wall and someone gets hurt?”
The defending three-time world champion, who trails Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by 24 points in this year’s title race, added: “I’m sure it’s something that Charlie Whiting (safety director) and the FIA are looking at.
“But it’s definitely an area in which we can improve. The idea is good. They don’t want us to run wide and use outside of the circuit. But perhaps we need another solution.”
Three drivers suffered broken suspensions on Saturday after riding the new kerbs.
In a dramatic and incidentpacked qualifying session, the defending three-time world champion judged his speed and tyre-selection to perfection in the changing conditions to claim the prime starting spot with a best lap in one minute and 7.922 seconds.
His Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg was second fastest, but the German will start Sunday’s race with a five-place grid penalty after a gearbox change following his crash in practice on Saturday morning.
