Max Verstappen has revealed that recent medical checks have shown that he has issues in his lower spine.

The revelation comes off the back of the Dutchman complaining about the bumpy surface at the Circuit of the Americas, where F1 has headed this week for the US Grand Prix.

Verstappen had joked in Singapore that he would have to 'order a new spine or become like Robocop' after the US race, but struck a more serious tone when addressing the media in Austin on Thursday.

He admitted that he isn't particularly looking forward to the bumpiness of the track, revealing that drivers have been raising the issue for some time before calling it 'out of control.

Verstappen calls COTA bumps 'out of control'

"You can also see the track conditions," he said. "From what I saw in the WEC [World Endurance Championship], the circuit was extremely bumpy.

"I'm not really looking forward to that to be honest, for your spine. I was joking about that in the last race but it's not really a joke to be honest because we mentioned this already for years that it's actually getting a bit out of control.

"I'm sure it's going to be quite tough to find the right compromises around this track in places where it's just extremely bumpy. I don't know how our car is going to respond to that."

COTA has 'one of the best layouts ever', but...

He continued: "Of course, you can use the excuse that the soil is the problem, but then you should have known that you need to make sure that you reinforce it more.

"I love this track. I love this place. It's one of the best layouts ever and it's one of the 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 putting a plaster on the big problem - that's just what's coming underneath.

"That's what you need to actually tackle in the first place. Of course, it 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."

Verstappen: Recent F1 cars caused further damage

He went on to reveal that medical tests have shown that his spine 'doesn't look that great', blaming it on recent F1 car designs.

"That I think sometimes people don't really understand that because I can tell you from the checks that I've done from my spine, the bottom end doesn't look that great, the spine," he said.

"I know that's part of racing. I know that can be part of sport, but it's of course also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years. Now, if we continue with finding this acceptable to drive on, then, you are going to suffer with that much more."