United States Grand Prix organisers have made a sequence of revisions to the Austin circuit to attempt to assist cut back Formulation 1 observe limits issues, Autosport has discovered.
With the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) venue being resurfaced for this yr, the chance was there to deal with points that cropped up ultimately yr’s F1 race with drivers abusing the white traces on the fringe of the circuit.
In reality, the issue of drivers chopping corners grew to become so prevalent that Haas sought a right of review over what it claimed had been a number of breaches by rivals within the race that ought to have been sanctioned.
Whereas the FIA stewards rejected Haas’ request, on-board video footage of drivers working off observe – particularly Flip 6 – prompted complaints from different groups in regards to the lack of motion being taken.
Ultimately, whereas the FIA acknowledged that on-board footage of the observe limits issues existed, it mentioned exterior monitoring of particular corners was not deemed enough to supply an correct judgement on if drivers had been outdoors the white traces.
Conscious of the state of affairs that emerged final yr, it has now emerged that Austin has made a sequence of modifications to the circuit that ought to stop a repeat state of affairs this yr.
At a number of areas of the observe, the asphalt verges have been narrowed by 1.5 metres and changed with turf which ought to cease drivers being tempted to run totally throughout them. These are on the within of Turns 6, 13, 14 and 15.
To assist the policing of potential observe limits issues, Austin additionally mentioned it had added cameras in “strategic locations” that ought to assist higher monitor any automobiles which can be deemed to run off the observe.

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04
Photograph by: Purple Bull Content material Pool
A change has additionally been made on the exit of Flip 11, the tight left-hander on to the again straight. This had beforehand been an asphalt run off space with ‘turtle bumps’ on the exit, but it surely has now been fitted with a resin-bound gravel crammed insert.
This ‘faux gravel’ was pioneered at Zandvoort a number of years in the past to behave as a deterrent for drivers, however not threat free stones being introduced again on to the observe.
It’s understood that the change has been made as an experiment for this yr – with COTA needing to steadiness the necessities of F1 with MotoGP.
Austin race promoter Bobby Epstein mentioned: “There are some areas the place it is onerous as a result of, if you happen to run Moto GP and F1 on the identical observe, one desires gravel in an space the place one other one would not.
“You may’t have each, and you may’t reduce into the observe and put in gravel, then flip it again and hope it stays watertight when you’ve clay beneath it. So there’s some forwards and backwards challenges to it.”
Different kerbs have additionally been changed across the observe, with drainage added to assist enhance issues for moist circumstances.
Observe resurfacing
In addition to the adjustments for observe limits, Austin has additionally undergone a resurfacing since final yr’s race – which ought to assist alleviate a few of the bumps that drivers complained about in 2023.
“It was primarily to do away with the bumps,” added Epstein. “A few of that observe was 12 years previous, so it was time.
“I do know Max [Verstappen] gave it a reasonably poor evaluation final yr. So I hope we hear one thing constructive. I am sure we’ll hear: ‘This is sort of a completely new observe. It is incredible.’”