FIA comes under fire for sausage kerbs again after FRECA racer Adam Fitzgerald suffers three broken vertebrae

The pressure continues to mount on the FIA to remove sausage kerbs, as another driver has suffered serious back injuries, this time in the FRECA.

FIA comes under fire for sausage kerbs again after FRECA racer Adam Fitzgerald suffers three broken vertebrae

FRECA racer Adam Fitzgerald

The primary objective of ‘sausage kerbs’ is to discourage racers from running wide, or cutting corners to gain an advantage. Because, if you go over them ‘normally’ it would rather slow you down, not give you an advantage. But they are rather controversial, as many deemed them unsafe and have asked the FIA to remove them, and there have been a number of rather horrific incidents involving them. Sometimes, they can launch the car up, with potentially dangerous consequences.

Alex Peroni’s crash in a Formula 3 race in Monza, back in 2019 comes to mind. He had gone a little off track on turn 11 and went over a sausage kerb. This launched his car high up in the air, where it flipped multiple times before clattering on top of the barriers and into the fencing. He was diagnosed with a broken vertebra and missed the remainder of the season.

In 2018, during the Macau Grand Prix, Sophia Flörsch suffered an even more horrifying incident. After hitting Jehan Daruvala’s right-rear wheel, her car spun and made contact with a crash barrier, which led to the left-side wheels detached. She then further hit sausage kerbs on the right of the Lisboa corner, which made her car go airborne. Flörsch hit the roll hoop of Sho Tsuboi, then went into, and past the fencing, into a photographer’s booth. She suffered a spinal fracture.

Two photographers in the booth, as well as a track marshal also suffered injuries. There’s been another incident recently. Adam Fitzgerald, who races in the Formula Regional European Championship (by Alpine), suffered back injuries after going over sausage kerbs at Imola. This incident means that he will be out of action for a significant amount of time. The good thing is he did not suffer any spinal cord injuries.

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RPM and fans call on FIA to remove sausage kerbs following Fitzgerald’s injury

Adam Fitzgerald in RPM Machinery
Adam Fitzgerald in RPM Machinery

After the incident, a social media post from his team, RPM, read: “Today these crazy yellow ramps on top of the kerbs known as ‘SAUSAGE KERBS’ or ‘BANANA’S’ claimed the spine of another driver. They launch the car into the air resulting in dangerous situations for the drivers. I don’t know what needs to happen next for the people to realise that these Sausage kerbs have absolutely no place in Formula Motorsport.”

The statement continued: “We wish Adam a very speedy recovery after the injuries he sustained from these kerbs today.” A spokesperson for his team, RPM, told PlanetF1: “Adam has three fractured vertebrae. He lost the rear of the car in Turn 1, which subsequently launched him into the air backways, and all of the force came down on the chassis which managed to break his spine.”

The spokesperson added: “The car is broken almost in half but, thankfully, he has no spinal cord injury.” The team expects Fitzgerald to be unable to compete again for at least a month. The team wasn’t the only ones angry with sausage kerbs following this incident, as many fans also expressed their displeasure to the FIA on social media.

Numerous Formula 1 drivers, including Lando Norris and George Russell, have also called on the FIA to remove sausage kerbs from the sport. Now, with another incident, it’s becoming increasingly clear that sausage kerbs are not viable for this particular form of motorsport.

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