United States Grand Prix: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has criticised the bumps on the Austin track ahead of the weekend’s United States Grand Prix, calling that the bumps are “unacceptable” and “out of control”.
Addressing media ahead of the United States GP at Austin, the four-time champion highlighted the challenges at the track, which he although “loves” but sees the bumps as a “big problem” too.
“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 city to be at,” Verstappen told the media. “But for me the bumps are unacceptable. Over time they’ve been grinding a little bit here and there, but it’s just putting a plaster on the big problem.”
“But that of course means you need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time, but that’s the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control,” he added.
The Circuit of the Americas is built on former marshland, which has made it hard for the organisers to maintain it in good shape; however, Verstappen is not looking at it as an excuse, and is rather concerned about it troubling the racers as they age.
“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,” Verstappen said.
“Last year, for example, you pull around 5-6G in a corner, but I had some impacts, vertical load, which was over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun, and especially the older you get, you think about that more and more.”
Meanwhile, he also emphasised that the cars this season are likely to face a tougher challenge with the bumps as the cars run lower in the corners than the previous season.
“You bottom out way harder, because when the wings close and the ride height comes down, under braking is actually a very stressful moment, and I know around here in some places, it’s very bumpy under braking,” he said.
“Especially when it’s like these kinds of awkward bumps, not just bumps from the track getting older, but the surface underneath the soil just moving up and down, sometimes (it’s) very hard to expect, or if you’re like a tiny bit offline, you don’t know what is there, because no-one really drives here sometimes.
“You bottom out way harder, because when the wings close and the ride height comes down, under braking is actually a very stressful moment, and I know around here in some places, it’s very bumpy under braking,” he said.
Article Source: IANS
