Max Verstappen said it would be better to replace Austria's kerbs with walls after labelling them "dangerous" during the first day of practice in Spielberg.
Verstappen endured a frustrating FP1 at the Red Bull Ring after having two run-ins with the baguette-like kerbs on the edge of various corners. The first off was at the penultimate corner and cost him a piece of his endplate before a more hefty collision at Turn 5 damaged his front suspension.
The teenager vented his frustration over the radio and took his criticism a step further after the day's practice sessions we finished.
"The problem is, I understand we have to respect the track limits, but it's better to put a wall there, because then I destroyed two front wings and front suspension," he said. "I think it's a bit too high. But at the other end we have to stay off them as well.
Asked what his conclusion from the opening day had been, he laughed and said: "The kerbs are very high, that's my conclusion! And hard for the car. After that, of course I lost a bit of time because of the damage. I think the car is in good shape, we are a little bit better than expected here, so it's not too bad. Not a bad day."
Verstappen's viewpoint was not shared by Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who thinks the kerbs did their job of punishing a driver for a mistake.
"I don't think they were dangerous, I actually think they are quite good," the Australian said. "You're going off the track and at least you're paying a penalty. We talked a bit yesterday in the press conference about liking street circuits because if you make a mistake normally your race it over. With modern circuits it's hard to just put a wall everywhere and still make it safe.
"So the yellow kerb worked really well today because in the end it was a mistake from Max. It damaged his car quite a bit, probably more than he expected, but at least it was black or white. It's not personal to Max, the team was spending all of lunch fixing his car so it's not good for them, but I do like that if you make a mistake you can't just continue like it's nothing."