Drivers have heavily criticised the bumpy Circuit of The Americas as not being up to F1 standard following the United States Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen won the race from Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris after 56 laps of racing around the 5.515km circuit.
The top three all voiced concerns at the quality of the racing surface and called for it to be repaved.
It was an issue that hit the headlines immediately post-race when Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were both referred to the stewards for excessive plank wear.
Current F1 regulations require teams to run the cars as low as possible, the bumps around Circuit of The Americas complicating teams’ efforts in setting ride height.
A further hurdle was the Sprint format weekend leaving teams just an hour of free practice, during which most were unable to complete meaningful long runs, before cars entered parc ferme on Friday.
“At the moment it feels like it’s better suited to a rally car,” Verstappen bemoaned of the current surface.
“Like, I’m jumping and bouncing around. In an F1 car, you probably don’t even see it as much because of course we are glued to the ground because of the downforce, but the bumps and jumps that we have in some places, it’s way too much.
“I don’t think it’s F1 level,” he added.
“I love this track, honestly, the layout is amazing, but we definitely need new tarmac.”
Circuit of The Americas was resurfaced at the start of 2022 following complaints from MotoGP riders the previous year.
For 2023, a new section of tarmac was added at Turn 12 and another section from Turn 14 until Turn 16 towards the end of the lap.
“It would be helpful if they didn’t put [new] tarmac in a braking zone as well,” observed Lando Norris, who was third in Sunday’s race after starting on the front row.
“They resurfaced some places and they start the tarmac at the 100 metre board into Turn 12, which is where we brake.
“So little things they could do.
“From what I’ve heard they’re resurfacing the first sector or something next year, so we’ll hope it’s a little bit better.”
Hamilton, who faces potential exclusion from the event for an issue likely caused by the bumps, agreed in a broad sense with his peers.
“I like some of the bumps because it adds character to a circuit, but there’s way too many,” he said before news broke that he faced potential disqualification.
“We could work, we as drivers in the GPDA, we’re open to discussing with them and helping them maybe not doing the whole thing so it costs a fortune.
“Like, from the last corner to the start line, for example, that’s smooth, then the rest is bumpy.
“Pit lane is smooth, but there are other areas that for sure we could patch up and improve.”
