Max Verstappen fears that Formula 1 drivers will suffer “much more” spinal damage than what they have already sustained in recent years if “out of control” bumps like those at the Circuit of the Americas are not addressed.
The bumpy nature of the Austin track has been a frustration for F1 drivers and their MotoGP counterparts for many years, with a major resurfacing initiative in 2022 aimed at alleviating the worst of the complaints.
It has also been resurfaced again ahead of this year’s F1 race, from the entry of Turn 9 to the entry of Turn 11, and smoothed at the entry of Turns 12 and 19, to remove bumps.
But four-time F1 world champion Verstappen - who said it still looked “extremely badly bumpy” when the World Endurance Championship raced there last month - believes these are superficial improvements.
He suggested that if a major earthworks project is required to reinforce the shifting ground and soil beneath the surface, then COTA should do it - even if it is a lengthy undertaking.
“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.
“I mean, 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 cities to be at. But for me, the bumps that we have are unacceptable.
“Over time they've been grinding a little bit here and there, but it's just you're putting a plaster on the big problem. And that's just what's coming underneath. That's what you need to actually tackle in the first place.
“But that means you need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time. But honestly, that's the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control.”
While Verstappen believes this track is an extreme example, he suggested it is a wider issue that F1 needs to take more seriously.
Several of the COTA track’s bumpiest parts, including at the end of the long back straight, are in braking zones into slow corners which Verstappen said actually makes the current cars worse for driver discomfort than the ground-effect predecessors.
Early in the 2022-2025 ruleset drivers complained about how uncomfortable those stiff, low cars were - particularly on the straights.
The current cars actually run at lower ride heights in the corners, though, and can bottom out aggressively into braking zones when the front and rear wings close and car hunkers down as the downforce reattaches and speed drops off.
“Last year, you pulled around 5-6G in a corner, but I had some impacts like vertical load, which was like over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun,” Verstappen said.
“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, 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 finding this acceptable to drive on you are going to suffer with that much more.
“And people can say there are worse sports out there for damage to parts of your body for sure, but that’s why I’m not doing them!”
Verstappen found some common ground with rivals George Russell and Lando Norris on this subject, too.
Russell suggested F1 tracks should be “repaved every couple of years…because we're going to tracks now where tarmac's coming up, it's falling apart” and causing issues.
“We're not an Indycar or an F2 car that runs ride heights reasonably high. Our ride height is 10mm at the end of the straight. So any tiny bump, you really feel it," he added.
“And the side profile of the tyres, since we've been with the 18 inch, is substantially smaller. So you've lost all of that effective suspension in the tyre, which was a damper we kind of don't have anymore.”
Reigning champion Norris said the tolerances new circuits need to be within now “are pretty small” and suggested COTA “certainly doesn't fit anywhere close to what those regulations are now”.
"It's pretty bad," he said. "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. But there's not much we can do. 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."