F1 drivers wary of new Monaco kerbs

Formula 1 drivers expressed concerns that new kerbs installed on the streets of Monte Carlo, ahead of the Monaco Grand Prixweekend, could send their cars flying if they make a mistake and me more dangerous than is necessary.

The kerb at the right-left chicane exiting the harbour-side swimming pool complex has been beefed up to prevent drivers gaining an advantage by cutting the corner.

"That big yellow thing, don't touch it when you are in a Formula One car," Haas F1's French driver Romain Grosjean told reporters after first inspections of the street circuit. "It looks like a taking-off ramp."

Mercedes's triple world champion Lewis Hamilton, a former Monaco winner, said he was not sure why the kerbs were changed while team mate Valtteri Bottas described them as "quite extreme".

Force India's Mexican driver Sergio Perez added: "I think the one we had before was big enough and if you hit it, it would send you to the wall. So I think this one will probably send you to the grandstand."

Britain's Jolyon Palmer, who has yet to score a point this season with Renault, provided an alternative perspective.

"It's not as big as the walls that are around the outside of most other corners. So I think we'd prefer to have a kerb like that than a wall," he said.