GET TO KNOW
THE CIRCUIT
Mexico City is one of the world’s most buzzing, vibrant metropolises. And with the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez located just to the east of the city, with a metro station ready to whip you into the downtown at the end of each day’s racing action, it's a fantastic chance to properly mix sport and culture.
What’s the circuit like?
High up! The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez sits over 2km above sea level, making the 4.3km lap a breathless experience. The track still largely follows the outline of the original 1959 circuit, the main difference being that the spectacular – and spectacularly scary – Peraltada corner is now bisected, with the circuit instead winding through a former baseball stadium, providing one F1’s most unique vistas.
When was the track built?
In 1959. The father of Mexico’s most famous racing brothers, Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, was an advisor to Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateo, and had a word in his boss’s ear about building a racing circuit in Mexico City’s Magdalena Mixiuhca sports park using the existing internal roads. El Presidente liked the idea, and work on the track was completed in under a year.
When was its first Grand Prix?
Formula 1 cars arrived in 1962 for a non-championship race, returning the following year for a proper, bona fide Grand Prix. That 1963 race was won by Jim Clark, while for the next few years, Mexico’s fiesta vibes meant it became the traditional season-ender for Formula 1. Mexico was welcomed back onto the F1 calendar in 2015.
SAFETY CAR
PROBABILITY:
VSC
PROBABILITY:
Trivia
The 20% air pressure reduction at 7,200ft AMSL (above mean sea level) means Mexico has taken over from Italy as the race with the highest top speeds. In the 2016 race, Valtteri Bottas set the fastest ever trap speed in F1 history (231.46mph) but Williams telemetry said his maximum speed reached 231.96mph before braking for Turn 1
FIRST GRAND PRIX:
1963
TRACK LENGTH:
4.304km
LAP RECORD:
1:17.774
Valtteri Bottas (2021)
Previous winners
2024 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
2023 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2022 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2021 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2019 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Previous polesitters
2024 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
2023 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2022 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2021 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
2019 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
PIT STOP
TIME LOSS
21.9s
(including 2.5s stationary)
OVERTAKES COMPLETED IN 2024:
91
POLE RUN TO TURN 1 BRAKING POINT:
The Driver's Verdict
Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault F1 driver
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has a low downforce effect but, here in Mexico City, you run to the maximum due to the thin air. The car always feels low on grip and on the edge around here.
The big braking zones are tricky in the first half of the lap and it is always loose through the middle sector thanks to the aforementioned low downforce. You've got to work out how much kerb you can take early on; take too much and it can really unsettle the car.
The last sector is fiddly and it feels ridiculously slow through the stadium. The penultimate right-hander feels like it might be nothing, but it is arguably the easiest to crash on with low grip and the wall so close.
Grip level overall is very low and the car feels so clumsy at such a low speed. But the atmosphere around here in Mexico is great, which is such a buzz.
Current Form
What can be expected going into the Grand Prix weekend?
The battle for the Drivers’ Championship took another turn last time out in Austin, with Oscar Piastri’s lead over McLaren team mate Lando Norris now cut to just 14 points after a challenging weekend for the squad in which they suffered a double DNF in Saturday’s Sprint.
But perhaps the headline story was that Max Verstappen is now only 40 points adrift of Piastri, the Red Bull driver having continued his strong run of form by winning the Sprint before taking a commanding victory in the Grand Prix.
With five rounds remaining – featuring two more Sprints along the way – Verstappen has declared that the “chance is there” to claim a fifth consecutive World Championship, adding that he and the team “need to try to deliver these weekends to the end of the year”.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella, meanwhile, has stated that the outcome of the title “is in our hands”, meaning that the Teams’ Champions will be keen to execute a good weekend in Mexico City.
Behind them, Mercedes and Ferrari remain locked in a fight for second in the Teams’ standings. The Scuderia will be looking to build on the more positive outing they experienced in Austin, with Charles Leclerc claiming the final spot on the podium, while Red Bull are also only a few points behind the Italian team in fourth place.
Williams are still in a solid fifth, but the midfield scrap remains close. Racing Bulls currently lead the pack, yet only 23 points cover the teams between sixth and ninth. Alpine are a slightly more distant 10th, and it will be interesting to see how the squad handle things after Franco Colapinto ignored a team order to stay behind Pierre Gasly in the United States Grand Prix.
Iconic Moment
2017 Opening lap chaos
The opening lap at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix was eventful to say the least. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel had managed to grab pole ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in P2 and title rival Lewis Hamilton in P3.
But as soon as the lights went out it was a young Verstappen who managed to force himself past Vettel at the second corner, allowing Hamilton himself to overtake the German. However, on the entry to the third corner Vettel clipped Verstappen's right rear tyre, and also subsequently came together with Hamilton's right rear.
Vettel would end up pitting for a new wing following that incident, while Hamilton would limp back with a puncture – the two championship contenders now left in 19th and 20th respectively.
With Verstappen going on to seal the win, Vettel would battle back to fourth. However, Hamilton managed to haul his Mercedes up to ninth place and that was enough to secure the 2017 Drivers' title.
