Max Verstappen again criticised the notorious bumps at the Circuit of the Americas, suggesting they made finding a workable setup compromise harder than usual during Friday practice for the United States Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver ended both sessions inside the top three, second in opening practice behind Charles Leclerc and third in the afternoon session, 0.189 seconds off the Ferrari driver's benchmark time of one minute 35.291s.
Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli split the Ferrari and Verstappen in second place in FP2, continuing his strong form as he stands on the brink of becoming the youngest champion in F1 history.
COTA's surface has long been a talking point in the paddock, and it was again the case after practice.
Four-time F1 champion Verstappen, who made clear during his media session on Thursday that driving at COTA is a painful experience, said: "It is never easy on this circuit to find a good compromise between the car's setup for the slow and fast corners.
"The fact that it is so bumpy makes it extra difficult. We tried to find a good rhythm and balance in the car.
"We worked on that between the first and second free practice sessions.
"There is still some work to be done, but it wasn't a bad start to the weekend."
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