The extreme bumpiness of the Circuit of the Americas isn’t up to F1 standards, believes Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, echoing Max Verstappen’s sentiments.

The Austin circuit has become renowned for extreme bumpiness, having been built on an unstable clay base.

Gabriel Bortoleto criticises Circuit of the Americas track surface

With the Circuit of the Americas built on a clay surface that expands in rain and retracts in dry conditions, the tarmac surface tends to ripple and move around despite the best efforts of the circuit promoter.

When being initially built, the surface was scraped back to a depth of three metres before a layered foundation was built, upon which the tarmac was laid but, over the years, this surface has become bumpier and bumpier.

Ahead of this year’s race, organisers resurfaced from the entry of Turn 9 through to the entry of Turn 11, while grinding has been done on the surface on the approach to Turn 12 and approaching Turn 19.

Despite this, on Thursday, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said the extent of the bumps isn’t great news for those who struggle with their backs, revealing he’s had spinal scans that show some wear and tear.

“I had some impacts like vertical load, which was over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun,” he said of the CoTA surface.

“And especially the older you get, you think about that more and more. That’s not what you want.

“And with these cars, especially under braking, you bottom out way harder because when the wings close and then the ride height comes down, under braking it’s actually a very stressful moment.

“I know around here in some places, it’s very bumpy under braking, and especially when it’s these kinds of awkward bumps, not just bumps from the track getting older, but, I don’t know, the surface underneath the soil just moving up and down; sometimes it’s very hard to expect, or if you’re a tiny bit offline, you don’t know what is there because no one really drives here sometimes.

“It’s really not nice, and I think sometimes people don’t really understand that because I can tell you, from the checks that I’ve done from my spine, the bottom end doesn’t look that great, the spine.

“I know that’s part of racing. I know that can be part of sport, but it’s of course also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years.

“And now, if we continue finding this acceptable to drive on, then you are going to suffer with that much more.

“People can say, ‘Yeah, but there are worse sports out there for damage to parts of your body.’ For sure. But that’s why I’m not doing them. So yeah, it’s not nice.”

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto agreed with Verstappen’s assessment, saying that he felt the surface is now so detrimental to the drivers that it is no longer up to the standard of the sport.

“It’s very harsh. Honestly, for an F1 standard, it shouldn’t be like this. But yeah, I mean, it’s a shame,” he said.

“I guess they need to resurface a little bit more parts that are bumpy because they resurface the part of the track that you basically straight line, so it doesn’t really matter.

“Hopefully in the future they can fix it because it’s an amazing track, amazing layout, and I love to race here.

“But with these bumps, it can sometimes be dangerous.”

Charles Leclerc lamented the surface as “very poor. The first sector is particularly poor and very bumpy.”

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Franco Colapinto, another driver in his 20s, joked about how the older drivers likely suffer badly on the circuit surface, but said it’s no picnic even for someone of his youth.

“It’s very bumpy, but it’s a great track to drive at for the drivers; to drive an F1 around these high-speed corners, it’s one of the best tracks in the world,” he said.

“It’s a pity that it’s so bumpy because it becomes harsh on the body as well. Our backs suffer. Me, I’m young; I already struggle a bit. I can imagine the older ones!

“It’s not the easiest. Hopefully, they can improve it for the future. Some new tarmac would feel amazing.

“I think they did new tarmac from the exit of Turn 9 to braking at Turn 11, and that feels so much smoother than last year.”

While the drivers are feeling the discomfort, Alpine boss Steve Nielsen believes it’s just part of the characteristics of the circuit which, despite its relative newness, bears all the hallmarks of an old-school facility.

“Honestly, Austin is bumpy. I think this piece of land, it’s no secret that it subsides; it moves around a lot,” he said.

“So the promoter puts the effort in, redoes the asphalt, and then the ground moves, and it’s bumpy again.

“So I think they’re constantly battling against it. It’s been bumpy in the past. It’s bumpy now. I don’t suppose it’ll be much different in the future.”

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