维斯塔潘担心美国赛车场事故导致更多脊椎损伤
维斯塔潘担心如果不对美国赛车场的失控碰撞采取行动，F1车手将遭受比近年来更多的脊椎损伤。
马克斯·维斯塔潘担心，如果像美洲赛车场那样的“失控”碰撞问题得不到解决，一级方程式车手将遭受比近年来已经遭受的“更多”的脊椎损伤。
奥斯汀赛道的崎岖不平已经让一级方程式车手和他们的MotoGP同行们多年来感到沮丧，2022年的一项重大翻新计划旨在缓解最严重的投诉。
在今年的一级方程式比赛之前，赛道再次进行了翻新，从第9个弯道入口到第11个弯道入口，并在第12个和第19个弯道入口进行了平整，以消除凸起。
但四次一级方程式世界冠军维斯塔潘——他说，上个月世界耐力锦标赛在那里比赛时，它仍然看起来“极其崎岖”——认为这些只是表面的改进。
他建议，如果需要一个大型的土方工程来加固地表下移动的地面和土壤，那么COTA应该负责这项工作——即使这是一项漫长的任务。
“你可以用土壤问题是借口，但你应该知道这一点，你需要确保你加固它更多，”他说。
“我的意思是，我热爱这条赛道，我热爱这个地方。这是有史以来最好的布局之一。这也是最好的场馆，最好的城市之一。但对我来说，我们有的颠簸是不可接受的。
“随着时间的推移，他们在这里那里磨了一点，但这只是在给大问题贴上膏药。这就是下面的问题所在。这就是你首先需要解决的问题。”
“但是这意味着你需要真正完全地打开赛道。这需要花费大量的金钱和时间。但说实话，这是唯一能够解决这个问题的方式，因为这些凸起不是自然的，而且它们失去了控制。”
虽然维斯塔潘认为这条赛道是一个极端的例子，但他建议这是一个F1需要更加认真对待的更广泛的问题。
COTA赛道上最颠簸的部分，包括在长长的直道末端，都位于减速区进入慢弯道，维斯塔潘表示这实际上使得当前的车对于驾驶员的不适感比地面效应的前辈车型更甚。
在2022-2025规则集早期，车手们抱怨那些硬朗、低矮的赛车有多么不舒服——尤其是在直道上。
当前赛车在弯道中的实际行驶高度更低，当前后翼关闭且车辆因下压力重新附着而降低速度时，车辆会非常积极地触底进入制动区域。
去年，你在弯道中能产生大约5-6G的加速度，但我有一些垂直载荷的冲击，这就像我的脊椎上超过9G的加速度，我可以告诉你这真的很不舒服，”维斯塔潘说。
而且随着年龄的增长，你越会更多地考虑这一点。
我可以告诉你，从我脊椎的检查来看，底部的情况看起来并不太好。
“我知道那也是赛车的一部分，那也可以是体育的一部分，但它也是对我们过去几年所拥有的赛车造成的进一步损害，现在如果我们继续认为驾驶在这样的赛道上是可以接受的，你将承受更多的痛苦。”
“人们可以说，确实有比这更糟的体育项目会对你的身体部位造成伤害，但这就是为什么我不做这些项目的原因！”
维斯塔潘也在这个话题上与对手乔治·拉塞尔和兰多·诺里斯找到了共同点。
拉塞尔建议一级方程式赛道应该“每隔几年重铺一次……因为我们现在去的是沥青正在冒出来、正在破碎的赛道，这会引起问题。”
“我们不是一辆像Indycar或F2那样行驶高度相对较高的赛车。我们的行驶高度在直道结束时是10毫米。所以任何微小的颠簸，你都能真切地感觉到，”他补充道。
“而且，自从我们使用了18英寸轮胎以来，轮胎的侧面轮廓也大大减小了。所以你失去了轮胎中所有的有效悬挂，这相当于我们不再拥有的阻尼器。”
现任冠军诺里斯表示，新赛道现在所需的公差“相当小”，并建议COTA“肯定不符合现在的那些规定”。
“情况相当糟糕，”他说。“有很多地方我需要出去前吃头痛药，仅仅是因为路面太颠簸，而且因为颠簸，你的头会重重地撞在头枕上和其他东西上。”
“这当然不是一件好事。但我们能做的并不多。我们对此抱怨，所以这是我们多次提出的问题，但我们能抱怨的也只有这么多。”
英文原文
Max Verstappen fears that Formula 1 drivers will suffer “much more” spinal damage than what they have already sustained in recent years if “out of control” bumps like those at the Circuit of the Americas are not addressed.
The bumpy nature of the Austin track has been a frustration for F1 drivers and their MotoGP counterparts for many years, with a major resurfacing initiative in 2022 aimed at alleviating the worst of the complaints.
It has also been resurfaced again ahead of this year’s F1 race, from the entry of Turn 9 to the entry of Turn 11, and smoothed at the entry of Turns 12 and 19, to remove bumps.
But four-time F1 world champion Verstappen - who said it still looked “extremely badly bumpy” when the World Endurance Championship raced there last month - believes these are superficial improvements.
He suggested that if a major earthworks project is required to reinforce the shifting ground and soil beneath the surface, then COTA should do it - even if it is a lengthy undertaking.
“You can use the excuse that the soil is the problem, but then you should have known that and you need to make sure that you reinforce it more,” he said.
“I mean, I love this track, I love this place. It's one of the best layouts ever. And it's one of the best venues, best cities to be at. But for me, the bumps that we have are unacceptable.
“Over time they've been grinding a little bit here and there, but it's just you're putting a plaster on the big problem. And that's just what's coming underneath. That's what you need to actually tackle in the first place.
“But that means you need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time. But honestly, that's the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control.”
While Verstappen believes this track is an extreme example, he suggested it is a wider issue that F1 needs to take more seriously.
Several of the COTA track’s bumpiest parts, including at the end of the long back straight, are in braking zones into slow corners which Verstappen said actually makes the current cars worse for driver discomfort than the ground-effect predecessors.
Early in the 2022-2025 ruleset drivers complained about how uncomfortable those stiff, low cars were - particularly on the straights.
The current cars actually run at lower ride heights in the corners, though, and can bottom out aggressively into braking zones when the front and rear wings close and car hunkers down as the downforce reattaches and speed drops off.
“Last year, you pulled around 5-6G in a corner, but I had some impacts like vertical load, which was like over 9G on my spine, which I can tell you is really not fun,” Verstappen said.
“And especially the older you get you think about that more and more.
“I can tell you from the checks that I’ve done from my spine, the bottom end doesn’t look that great.
“I know that’s part of racing, that can be part of sport, but it’s also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years, and now if we continue finding this acceptable to drive on you are going to suffer with that much more.
“And people can say there are worse sports out there for damage to parts of your body for sure, but that’s why I’m not doing them!”
Verstappen found some common ground with rivals George Russell and Lando Norris on this subject, too.
Russell suggested F1 tracks should be “repaved every couple of years…because we're going to tracks now where tarmac's coming up, it's falling apart” and causing issues.
“We're not an Indycar or an F2 car that runs ride heights reasonably high. Our ride height is 10mm at the end of the straight. So any tiny bump, you really feel it," he added.
“And the side profile of the tyres, since we've been with the 18 inch, is substantially smaller. So you've lost all of that effective suspension in the tyre, which was a damper we kind of don't have anymore.”
Reigning champion Norris said the tolerances new circuits need to be within now “are pretty small” and suggested COTA “certainly doesn't fit anywhere close to what those regulations are now”.
"It's pretty bad," he said. "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 headrest and things because of the bumps.
"So it's certainly not a nice thing. But there's not much we can do. We complain about it, so it's stuff we've brought up many, many times but there's only so much we can complain about."
The Race ·
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