Lando Norris has fully backed the criticism voiced by Max Verstappen regarding the severe track bumps at the Circuit of the Americas. The McLaren star revealed that the vertical forces and bouncing at certain Formula 1 venues are so intense that he regularly takes headache tablets before heading out for a session.
The discussion intensified after Verstappen humorously remarked that he would need a new spine or become like Robocop following a race weekend at the Austin venue. During the Thursday media sessions ahead of the grand prix weekend, the Dutch driver did not hold back his frustration with the circuit layout. Shortly after, Norris stepped up to support his rival's assessment of the bumpy asphalt.
Norris elaborated that while modern FIA track-building regulations enforce strict tolerances on surface flatness, older circuits like COTA naturally fall outside these stringent modern standards, creating severe physical demands for drivers operating stiff, low-riding ground-effect Formula 1 machines.
The physical toll inside the cockpit is exacerbated by violent head impacts against the headrest over the circuit's notorious undulations. Norris explained the harsh reality of coping with the physical battering. "There’s a lot of places I need to take headache tablets before I go out. Simply because it’s so bumpy and you're hitting your head pretty hard against the headrests and things because of the bumps, so it’s certainly not a nice thing," Norris stated.
The COTA track surface has remained a persistent talking point since F1's debut at the venue in 2012. Despite various resurfacing projects and targeted patch-up work between Turn 9 and Turn 11 over recent years, the underlying ground movement continues to push the circuit's asphalt out of alignment.
Mercedes driver George Russell also weighed in on the matter, acknowledging that while bumps are part of racing, top-tier circuits should ideally undergo complete resurfacing every couple of years to manage the minimal ground clearance utilized by modern grand prix cars.
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