{"id":944171,"date":"2026-10-24T06:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T06:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/944171\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T06:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T06:12:12","slug":"max-verstappen-reveals-spine-scan-results-as-cota-bumps-out-of-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/944171\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen reveals spine scan results as COTA bumps ‘out of control’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> claims that the bumps around the Circuit of The Americas are \u201cout of control\u201d as he called for extensive, and expensive work to solve the problem.<\/p>\n

Claiming that the issue could be even worse than with the ground effect cars in Austin, Verstappen also lifted the lid on scans which he\u2019s had on his spine, admitting that the \u201cbottom end doesn\u2019t look that great\u201d.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen claims COTA bumps \u2018not natural\u2019<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 2026 United States GP, organisers resurfaced the stretch from Turn 9 to Turn 11, while the bumps on the approaches to Turns 12 and 19 received some smoothing out.<\/p>\n

But, having watched the World Endurance Championship race at COTA, Verstappen<\/a> has already quipped that a \u201cnew spine\u201d will be in his shopping cart after the race weekend.<\/p>\n

His verdict of scepticism on the COTA bumps treatment took a more serious turn when he called them \u201cout of control\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion says few tracks can hold a candle to this one, but the bumps have to go.<\/p>\n

Put to him that COTA in F1 2026 could be less heavy on the back, with ground effect cars consigned to the F1 history books, Verstappen responded: \u201cWell, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably worse because we have very low ride heights in cornering because on the straights you have the SM mode, so you go up. So in most places, on the braking especially, you actually bottom more than before because most of the bumps are under braking or in the corner, not on the actual straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s very bad, and of course 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I love this track. I love this place. It\u2019s one of the best layouts ever, and it\u2019s one of the, I would say, best venues, best cities to be at.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me, the bumps that we have are unacceptable, and I mean, over time, they\u2019ve been grinding a little bit here and there, but it\u2019s just you\u2019re putting a plaster on the big problem, and that\u2019s just what\u2019s coming underneath, and that\u2019s what you need to actually tackle in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that, of course, means you need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time, but honestly, that\u2019s the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

While still only 29, Verstappen is increasingly mindful of the impacts bumpy tracks like this one is having on his body.<\/p>\n

His spine scans suggest that being aware is wise.<\/p>\n

Asked to expand on the impacts of these lumps in the road on a driver, Verstappen said: \u201cWell, last year, for example, you pull around 5, 6G in a corner, but I had some impacts like vertical load, which was over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd especially the older you get, you think about that more and more. That\u2019s not what you want.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd 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\u2019s actually a very stressful moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know around here in some places, it\u2019s very bumpy under braking, and especially when it\u2019s these kind of awkward bumps, not just bumps from the track getting older, but, I don\u2019t know, the surface underneath the soil just moving up and down, sometimes it\u2019s very hard to expect, or if you\u2019re a tiny bit offline, you don\u2019t know what is there because no one really drives here sometimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really not nice, and I think sometimes people don\u2019t really understand that because I can tell you from the checks that I\u2019ve done from my spine, the bottom end doesn\u2019t look that great, the spine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that\u2019s part of racing. I know that can be part of sport, but it\u2019s of course also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, if we continue finding this acceptable to drive one, then you are going to suffer with that much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can say, \u2018Yeah, but there are worse sports out there for damage to parts of your body.\u2019 For sure. But that\u2019s why I\u2019m not doing them. So yeah, it\u2019s not nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen arrives in Austin following back-to-back wins at the Bahrain and Singapore Grands Prix.<\/p>\n

Read next: Why the FIA has announced it is banning a hidden F1 development war in 2027<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen claims that the bumps around the Circuit of The Americas are \u201cout of control\u201d as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,1613,1885,44,82,106694],"class_list":["post-944171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-max-verstappen","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-united-states-grand-prix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}