US Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen says COTA’s track surface is “not at F1 level” and urges the venue to do more to smooth out the track’s notorious bumps.
Bumps have long been an issue at The Circuit of the Americas due to the ground's particularly soft soil that has led to water erosion and a sinking sub-surface in some areas.
A partial, large-scale grinding and resurfacing of the track was conducted last year, while more smoothing was conducted in certain areas ahead of this year’s race.
But drivers remained critical of their rough ride last weekend, a problem compounded by the necessity to run F1’s current generations cars as low as possible.
The issue of minimal clearance and COTA’s bumps, coupled with imperfect settings due to teams having only a single practice session on Friday to get their act together - as is typical on sprint race weekends - are likely what led to the excessive wear of the floor plank on the respective cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as identified by the stewards in post-race scrutineering.
As a result, both drivers were excluded from the race’s final results.
"It needs to be redone because at the moment it feels like it's better suited to a rally car” commented Verstappen, addressing the issue of bumps at COTA.
“I'm jumping and bouncing around," the triple world champion said. “In an F1 car probably you don't even see it as much because, of course, we are glued to the ground because of the downforce.
“But the bumps and jumps that we have in some places, this is way too much. I don't think it's F1 level.
"I love this track. Honestly, the layout is amazing but we definitely need new tarmac and it needs to be a lot smoother for the coming years, because we already asking for this for I think quite a few years, and it's not really been done."
Hamilton, speaking before learning of the FIA’s investigation into his car’s plank wear, agreed that the track’s undulations had become to severe to ignore.
“I like some of the bumps because it adds character to a circuit, but there’s way too many,” said the Mercedes driver who finished second on the road to Verstappen in Austin.
“We could work, we as drivers in the GPDA, we’re open to discussing with them and helping them maybe not doing the whole thing so it costs a fortune.
“Like, from the last corner to the start line, for example, that’s smooth, then the rest is bumpy.
“Pit lane is smooth, but there are other areas that for sure we could patch up and improve.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris also chimed in on the COTA’s bumpy issue.
“It would be helpful if they didn’t put [new] tarmac in a braking zone as well,” said the Briton who inherited the runner-up spot behind Verstappen in the race’s final standings.
“They resurfaced some places and they start the tarmac at the 100 metre board into Turn 12, which is where we brake. So little things they could do.
“From what I’ve heard they’re resurfacing the first sector or something next year, so we’ll hope it’s a little bit better.”
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