Verstappen criticism of COTA surface draws admission from circuit chairman

Max VerstappenMax VerstappenRed Bull · Netherlands · Driver4th POS221 PTS's criticism of the Circuit of the Americas surface has drawn a response from the venue's chairman, Bobby Epstein, who accepted that the dip at the bottom of Turn 1 is "not acceptable". Verstappen raised the issue during his media session ahead of the United States Grand Prix, describing the bumps as unacceptable.

The exchange sets a driver's complaint about track quality directly against the circuit's own assessment of it, shortly before the cars run on that surface in competition. It also puts one identifiable piece of the Austin layout — the base of Turn 1 — at the centre of the disagreement, rather than leaving it as a general complaint about roughness.

2026

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POS

4th

PTS

221

WINS

2

PODIUMS

9

Season 2026

What Verstappen said

Morio · CC BY-SA 4.0

Verstappen, the four-time world champion, used his scheduled appearance before the weekend to say the bumps were unacceptable. The complaint was aimed at the state of the track rather than its design, and he chose the strongest available word for it rather than describing the surface as merely difficult or inconsistent.

That framing matters because drivers habitually tolerate imperfect surfaces and describe them in technical terms. Calling a surface unacceptable is a direct challenge to the venue to explain itself.

How Epstein answered

emperornie · CC BY-SA 2.0

Epstein did not contest the substance of the complaint. He conceded that the dip at the bottom of Turn 1 is "not acceptable", which is a narrower admission than a verdict on the whole circuit: it identifies one location and accepts that it falls short of what the track should offer.

The concession does not explain how the surface reached that condition, and it does not commit the circuit to a remedy. It establishes only that the chairman agrees with the driver about that specific dip.

Why the bottom of Turn 1 matters

A dip at the foot of a corner is not a cosmetic flaw. Cars are still heavily loaded when they pass through the lowest point of a turn, so any movement in the surface there is transmitted straight into the car rather than being absorbed. A driver's real objection is usually about predictability: grip that changes under the car at the same point every lap makes it harder to repeat a lap and harder to judge how the tyres will behave.

What the circuit has not said

No timetable for resurfacing or repair work at the circuit has been set out, and it has not been disclosed whether the dip at Turn 1 will be treated before the cars run. The circuit has not published a fuller response beyond Epstein's admission, and it has not been said whether the concern was raised formally with the sport's governing body.

It is also not known whether other drivers share Verstappen's view of the surface, or whether the subject was raised in any official briefing before the weekend.

What happens next

The immediate test is the United States Grand Prix itself, because the surface will be used whatever has been said beforehand, and practice will give the first clear picture of how the cars behave over the bumps. A public admission from a circuit chairman that a piece of his track is not acceptable is a firmer acknowledgement than a promise to look into it, but it remains an acknowledgement rather than a fix. Until the circuit states what work it intends to carry out, the gap between the complaint and the remedy stays open.