Verstappen blasts 'unacceptable' and 'out of control' COTA bumps before United States GP

Drivers warn of 'out of control' bumps at Circuit of the Americas

Max Verstappen has launched a scathing critique of the surface at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on the eve of this weekend's United States Grand Prix, describing the bumps that have plagued the Austin venue as "unacceptable" and "out of control". The four-time world champion arrives in Texas chasing a fifth COTA win, according to prior reporting from 21 October, after taking the last two races in Malaysia and Singapore.

The Dutchman said drivers had repeatedly raised the condition of the Texas track with organisers, but that attempts to resolve it had failed.

"I love this track, I love this place. It's one of the best layouts ever and it's one of the best venues, best city to be at," Verstappen said. "But for me the bumps are unacceptable. Over time they've been grinding a little bit here and there but it's just putting a plaster on the big problem.

"But that of course means you need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time but that's the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control."

'9G on my spine — that's really not fun'

The 2022-25 car rules have made the problem worse, Verstappen argued. While the current generation of cars run at lower ride-heights overall, the switch between open and closed drag-reduction wings means they sit even lower in corners than last season, dropping towards the ground under braking and bottoming out far harder on the bumpy surface.

He rejected suggestions that the venue's difficult foundations — COTA is built on former marshland — should be used as an excuse for inaction.

"You can use the excuse that the soil is the problem but then you should have known that and you need to make sure that you reinforce it more," he said. "Last year, for example, you pull around 5-6G in a corner, but I had some impacts, vertical load, which was over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun, and especially the older you get, you think about that more and more."

"You bottom out way harder, because when the wings close and the ride-height comes down, under braking is actually a very stressful moment, and I know around here in some places, it's very bumpy under braking," he added. "Especially when it's like these kind of awkward bumps, not just bumps from the track getting older, but the surface underneath the soil just moving up and down, sometimes (it's) very hard to expect, or if you're like a tiny bit offline, you don't know what is there, because no-one really drives here sometimes.

"I can tell you from the checks that I've done from my spine, the bottom end doesn't look that great. I know that's part of racing. I know that can be part of sport, but it's also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years. And now if we continue with finding this acceptable to drive on, then you are going to suffer with that much more."

Norris backs Verstappen as Russell shrugs it off

World champion Lando Norris threw his weight behind Verstappen's assessment, pointing out that the circuit no longer meets modern construction tolerances.

"The regulation of building a new track, the tolerances you have to be within are pretty small. It certainly doesn't fit anywhere close to what those regulations are now," Norris said. "It's an old track, not a new track so it's pretty bad. There's a lot of places I need to take headache tablets before I go out simply because it's so bumpy and you're hitting your head pretty hard against the headrest and things because of the bumps so it's certainly not a nice thing. There's not much we can do. I mean we complain about it so it's stuff we've brought up many, many times but there's only so much we can complain about things. But he's right."

Not everyone is as concerned. Mercedes driver George Russell took a more phlegmatic stance, suggesting resurfacing is simply part of the sport's cycle.

"It's bumpy, but I think it's just part of racing. I'd say my general view is F1 tracks probably need to be repaved every couple of years just to make it a bit more consistent," Russell said. "Because we're going to tracks now where Tarmac's coming up, it's falling apart, it's causing more issues than not. Not ideal, but not much we can do."

Verstappen took victory in Austin last year, with Norris finishing second.