Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Mexico City Grand Prix

PRIXVIEW – Mexico City Grand Prix 2022

Round twenty of the season takes Formula One to the heart of the Mexican capital for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The 2.674-mile circuit is similar to Monza on paper and in characterises but is equally as fast given its being the highest altitude with the circuit 2,238m above sea level the thin air means more straight-line speed and teams normally run higher downforce setups. In some ways this circuit is similar to Monza in terms of the layout, which should create opportunities for overtaking.

It was built in the 1960s with this weekend one week short pf the diamond jubilee of the circuit and the race being first held. It provides unique challenges including a bumpy nature caused by the shifting soils under the circuit, that could cause problems with porpoising and bouncing which are a result of Mexico City being on a geological fault line.

The altitude also acts as a real performance leveller being the highest altitude there is less oxygen for the power units, meaning that the cars are closer than normal. In a season, where at least in the midfield, the racing has been as competitive as ever you need to hope for the race to be as high as ever.

The long straight often sees cars reach 205mph before the braking point with the slipstream is powerful as you have the long straights between turn seventeen and one, aided by DRS turn one is good for overtaking, but the chicane can cause accidents as well as the second chicane.

Inspired by Monza the built a park in the centre part of a major city, in this case, the Mexican capital of Mexico City. The race provided unique challenges for racing. A more recent addition is the Fol-Sol stadium section while not the best place for overtaking the atmosphere and if drivers pass through the section. But that is made up for by the long run from Turn Seventeen and One, with reaching speeds over 370 km/h (230 mph) down the main straight.

In recent races, the circuit has been dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes the only teams which have won here since the third rival in 2015. Max Verstappen has taken three wins ties the record with Jim Clark.

Throughout most of its history, the trace has been held in October or November first as a non-championship race in 1962 which was marred in controversy. Jim Clark’s victory was disqualified after the Scott received a push start and death during Friday practice of Ricardo Rodriguez, who the circuit as well as his brother Pedro who was killed in 1971.

The first championship grand Prix was held the following season, with Clark taking back-to-back wins, also equalling the then record for most victories in a single season. 1964 saw the battle for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships. British drivers Clark, John Surtees and Graham Hill all arrived with a chance, with Hill leading the table; and Ferrari, BRM and Lotus were in contention for the Constructors’ Championship.

Ferrari signalled Lorenzo Bandini to let teammate Surtees through, which he did, and Surtees finished second behind Gurney to win the championship by one point; Ferrari won the Constructors’ Championship.

Honda’s first-ever win in F1 came with Richie Gunther in 1965, before Clark became the most successful driver in Mexico. 1968 saw Hill, Sir Jackie Stewart and defending world champion Denny Hulme all having a chance of winning the title. It proved to be a dramatic race, Hill was passed by Stewart who then retook the lead, Hulme running third until he had to pit with a broken throttle cable.

Stewart then fell back with when his engine started to misfire, his car’s handling was going off and the car also had a fuel-feed problem. But Hill had no problems and took the victory and his second driver’s championship. Crowd control in 1968 and 1970 contributed to the cancellation of the event. 1970, a record crowd of approximately 200,000 arrived to see Pedro Rodríguez, forcing officials to delay the race start by an hour as they struggled to control the crowd. This forced the race to be abandoned after 1971.

The second rival came in 1986, following a rebuild and improvements to the circuit however despite changes to the layout and the banking being reduced the circuit remained challenging with the bumps being retained. The following year’s race saw Derek Warwick crash heavily coming out of the Peraltada. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet finished first on the road, but because his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell was 30 seconds ahead when the first race ended.

1988 was a scene of a flash point in the fractious relationship between McLaren teammates Ayrton  Senna and Alain Prost who won in 1989 and 1988 respectively. The turn of the decade saw Prost come from thirteenth to second, while Senna retired with a suspension failure.

1991 saw Senna crash heavily at the Peraltada during practice; he was declared fit to race by FIA doctor Sid Watkins; he finished third behind Williams drivers Riccardo Patrese and Mansell. The 1992 race would be the last until 2015, because of pollution and safety.

More crashes through the Peraltada as well as the bump circuit lead to safety concerns and accidents. Senna crashed in qualifying and escaped with minor injuries and the race went ahead, won by Manwell on his way to the 1992 title.

The third revival finally came to fruition in 2015, before that attempts were made to move the race to Cancun in 2005-06. The plan was halted later that year as a debate arose about whether the land the circuit was to be built on was properly owned by the right people to do so. 2009 saw another attempt but the finical crash saw the Americas rounds, a part from Brazil, cancelled.

In August 2013, the race was added to the provisional calender for 2014 but the organisers and the FIA decided to cancel the race to allow preparation time to upgrade the somewhat run-down Hermanos Rodríguez circuit to modern standards.

Since 2015 this race has been dominated by both Mercedes and Red Bull. Nico Rosberg beat his teammate Lewis Hamilton to pole, before fending off the three-time champion at the first corner, he pair then pulled away from the rest of the field and finished one-two.

Hamilton went on to win the following years race, but the main drama was the battle for third. Hamilton’s championship rival Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen both lost third thanks to penalties. Vettel for dangerous driving and moving under braking when trying to fend off Daniel Ricciardo, and Verstappen for cutting a corner and gaining an unfair advantage.

Verstappen went onto win the first of three races in Mexico City in 2017, but the race was about Vettel and Hamilton fighting for the championship. The race then became about who could make the most progress into the points, Vettel needing to be on the podium to keep the championship alive. While the Ferrari driver made the most progress it wasn’t enough as two points for Hamilton to win his fourth title.

The Dutchman’s second win came the following year, while Ricciardo was ‘cursed’ from the start he retired in the closing stages after being bogged down at the start. Hamilton and Vettel fourth and second which was enough for the Englishman to seal his fifth title equalling Juan Manwell Fangio

Hamilton went on to win again in 2019, despite minor contact with Verstappen with both drivers losing positions at the start. The Mercedes driver then made better progress through the field and worked his way to second to secure his sixth title.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• At 2,240 meters above sea level, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is by far the highest track on the current F1 calendar. The next highest is Interlagos at 765 metres. At the other end of the scale, Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi at less than a metre above sea level.
• The cars spend 16s per lap on the brakes. The hardest deceleration is into Turn One, where the cars slow from 354km/h (220mph) to 106km/h (66mph) in just 70 metres, with a peak longitudinal force of 4.2g. The high altitude makes brake cooling one of the trickiest engineering conundrums of the season.
• In the 1986 Mexico Grand Prix, Gerhard Berger took the first of his 10 Grand Prix wins. Driving a Benetton B186, one of the most powerful F1 cars ever raced, Berger completed the win on a single set of Pirelli tyres.
• Until Sergio Perez’s podium at the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, the best result for a Mexican driver in their home Grand Prix was fourth place, scored by Pedro Rodriguez in 1968

Event timetable

What happened in 2021?

Valtteri Bottas beat his Mercedes teammate by just under a tenth of a second to take pole. There was little between Mercedes and Red Bull but in Q2 the momentum appeared to shift towards the German manufacturer with Max Verstappen going third fastest three and a half tenths behind Bottas while his teammate Sergio Perez was over a tenth behind.

Verstappen had topped all three practice sessions, but the turnaround in performance by Mercedes was never to be underestimated. Perez had tried to help Verstappen to pole, but that didn’t help him to move onto the front row as his rear end got away from him.

They were also forced to back off in the middle sector when Yuki Tsunoda went off through Turn Ten, Verstappen then went on to lock up in Fol Sol Stadium.

The Dutchman went on to win the race after sweeping pass the Mercedes at the start and then kept the net lead through the pit stops. He was aided by Hamilton having to fend off his teammate Perez, who couldn’t use his sole pit stop but could not quite make his tyre advantage count to secure Red Bull a one-two.

Pierre Gasly had a strong race finishing fourth, seventeen seconds ahead of the Ferrari’s with Charles Leclerc being the last car on the lead lap. Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz sixth a lap down, a strong result for their battle for third in the constructors championship with McLaren who scored only a point with Lando Norris tenth.

Ferrari had tried to get past Gasly during the closing stages by swapping Leclerc and Sainz, both drivers went wide in the pursuit of the Frenchman, but were unable to pass

Race Result – 1) M. Verstappen, Red Bull – Honda, 01:38:39.088, 2) L. Hamilton, Mercedes, +00:16.555, 3) S. Perez, Red Bull – Honda, +01:03.845

What to watch for?

Red Bull has now wrapped up both the driver’s and constructors’ championship, the question now will be whether they start making mistakes and dropping the bal. The stage of the season we are in with the final three races, plus the sprint in Sao Paulo, is that all the drivers can drive freely with not much to lose, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are going to finish in the top three in the constructors.

Mexico City has been a really good circuit for Max Verstappen he ties on three wins with Jim Clark, this circuit we know is one which rewards cars which are good with high speed and downforce. The track is very similar to Monza in its one which sees the highest speeds of the season, which we know places high demands on brakes and the cars overall, meaning accidents can happen and getting the performance right is key as the thinner air means there is less oxygen for the engines levelling out the performance advantages.

Ferrari needs to continue to iron out these mistakes and start building itself into a team who can operationally challenge Red Bull and Mercedes next year. I think they need to start getting back to at least challenging Red Bull and beating Mercedes on track winning again may be slightly more difficult because of the strength of Red Bull this season. Maybe they can surprise us by getting something right and getting a race win these remaining three races?

Alpine are safe in fourth they haven’t been challenged really by McLaren they have also seen great results and they tended to perform very well at these types of races. McLaren is looking as if they are setting into the position of fifth behind Alpine, we know Lando Norris is fighting single-handed. Daniel Ricciardo I think hasn’t made the case for him to stay in the sport, I think that he needs to look towards a reserve/advisory role in the short term if he takes a break it could create a pathway back to a race seat.

This is also an important time for those drivers without a race seat to prove they should stay, I think it is looking increasingly likely that Mick Schumacher is going to get another chance with Haas though he is fighting with Antonio Giovinazzi for that seat. He just needs to take advantage of situations and prove he worth retaining.

2019 v 2021 Race Data

2021 Lap time comparison

Tyres