FIA confirm COTA track work after MotoGP "dangerous" complaints

FIA race director Michael Masi has confirmed the Circuit of the Americas track surface will have bumps ground out ahead of the US Grand Prix.

The decision follows complaints made by MotoGP riders earlier this month when the surface was described as "dangerous" and ruled out racing at the venue in the future unless improvements were made.

The issue is born out of the fact the circuit is built on foundations prone to subsidence, meaning the surface shifts with the weather.

“I was on the phone to my FIM [Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme] colleagues all weekend whilst they were in Austin to get a true understanding of the entire situation," said Masi.

"What we have actually done is that since the 2019 event, as in F1 event, a large part of the circuit was resurfaced to counter some of the issues that we saw in 2019.

“The areas that were raised by the bikes are different areas to those that were resurfaced."

COTA has been the home of F1 in the USA since 2012 but will next year be joined by Miami on the calendar.

"Tony Cotman, who is one of the FIA circuit inspectors and was previously a ChampCar or IndyCar race director in the US, he has been out to Austin already in the week, has done a report and the circuit are doing some changes for us to address some of the concerns," explained Masi.

“They’ll grind some bumps and so forth but we’ve got some time to do it so they will do what they can within the timeframe.”

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