COTA chairman and Verstappen trade blows over Austin bumps
Circuit of the Americas chairman Bobby Epstein admits a dip at Turn 1 but calls the rest of the track in good shape. Max Verstappen rejects that and wants a deeper fix, saying Epstein would not be able to walk after five laps in his car.
A row over the surface
The bumps at the Circuit of the Americas have turned from a pre-race talking point into a public argument. After Max Verstappen criticised the track on Thursday, the circuit's chairman Bobby Epstein answered in an interview with ESPN. Verstappen replied after qualifying on Saturday, and his answer was just as blunt.
What Epstein said
According to PlanetF1 and Autosport, Epstein defended the track as a whole. He said the other bumps the drivers had raised were fixed and that the circuit was in very good shape. He conceded one problem: a dip at the bottom of Turn 1. "We don't feel good that there's a bump at the bottom of Turn 1," he said, adding that the circuit had not known about it until this week and would have fixed it.
Epstein also drew a line between a bump and a dip. Bumps, he said, can be sharpened quickly, sometimes overnight, while a dip has no easy fix. He said sports car drivers he had spoken to saw no problem, welcomed Verstappen's frankness and suggested the driver might change his view after practice.
Verstappen's answer
Verstappen did not. Asked about Epstein's comments after qualifying, he said the chairman "would have to get out after five laps and wouldn't be able to walk anymore", according to Autosport, and invited him to drive his car. He named Turn 1, Turn 19 and the fast Turns 4 and 5 as problem areas, and he warned that bottoming out through the Esses at high speed is dangerous.
He also argued that a fresh layer of asphalt would only bring the same trouble back within a year or two. Autosport reports that he wants the FIA and the championship to push for a deeper fix: digging up the circuit and building a proper foundation. He acknowledged that this would be costly. The track sits on high-plasticity clay, which swells and shrinks, and Autosport notes it was resurfaced two years ago. This year crews resurfaced Turns 9 to 11 and removed the worst bumps at Turns 12 to 19.
Not only Verstappen
Others have joined in. PlanetF1 quotes Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto saying the bumps take the track below Formula 1 standard, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc calling the surface very poor, especially in the first sector. Alpine's Steve Nielsen, in contrast, sees the bumps as part of the circuit's old-school character.
What it means
On track, Verstappen has coped. He starts the United States Grand Prix from the front row, second behind Kimi Antonelli, and our race data shows he won the previous round in Singapore on 11 October by 7.335 seconds. Neither report says what work, if any, is planned for Turn 1 before the race. Epstein's comments suggest a dip cannot be fixed quickly, so the question is likely to outlast the weekend.
