Max Verstappen has labelled bumps on the Circuit of the Americas track as “unacceptable” and “out of control” ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
The Austin circuit, which has held an F1 race since 2012, is built on former marshland, making it difficult for organisers to keep it in tip-top condition. However, Verstappen has dismissed those excuses out of hand.
"I love this track, I love this place,” he said at media day on Thursday. “It's one of the best layouts ever and it's one of the best venues, best city to be at. 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."
Verstappen detailed that cars this year are running lower in the corners than the previous ground-effect era cars, exacerbating the load on the drivers’ backs.
"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," Verstappen, who won the last two races in Malaysia and Singapore, 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.
"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."
Reigning world champion Lando Norris concurred with his Dutch rival. “The regulation of building a new track, the tolerances you have to be within are pretty small,” the McLaren driver said. “It certainly doesn't fit anywhere close to what those regulations are now.
"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."