Mexican GP Preview
After Lewis Hamilton edged closer to his fourth World Championship crown taking his eighth victory of the season by winning the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Round 18 of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico this weekend for the Formula 1 Gran Premio De Mexico 2017. This will be the nineteenth time that Mexico will be hosting a Grand Prix and the seventeenth as part of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
A look at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a permanent racing circuit located in Mexico City, Mexico named after famous racing drivers and brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez. The circuit was built in 1962 within the public park of Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City in southeast Mexico City and hosted its first Formula One Grand Prix the same year as a non-championship round. The following year the Mexican Grand Prix became a full World Championship event. The circuit remained part of the calendar through until 1970 when spectator overcrowding caused unsafe conditions and was dropped from the calendar for 15 years. When the track re-opened and Formula 1 returned from 1986-1992, it boasted a new pit building complex, as well as improved safety all around. Eventually as race speeds increased, the number of serious accidents grew and demands for further safety improvements were made. The organisers were faced with financial difficulties and could not meet the demands needed to keep it on the calendar and was again dropped. In August 2011 with the rise of Mexican drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez, it revived plans to bring Grand Prix racing back to Mexico with tycoon Carlos Slim proposing a revived Mexican Grand Prix.
In May 2012, it was announced that the circuit again will host a Grand Prix from 2013 in a five-year deal to replace Valencia but this did not happen. It was then listed as the 19th round of the 2014 championship on the provisional calendar but was not finalised on the schedule. In July 2014, it was then announced by Bernie Ecclestone that the Mexican Grand Prix will return starting in 2015 on a 5- year deal.
The Grand Prix circuit underwent major renovations from circuit designer Hermann Tilke for the return of Formula 1 in 2015. The front straight was slightly extended and modified to incorporate a new media centre and paddock. The iconic Esses between turns 7 and 13 were significantly changed with the prolific, high radius turns largely diminished and some replaced with fixed angle turns. The baseball field portion of the track was also altered to accommodate a low speed left-right combination that bypassed the first half of the famous Peraltada, allowing the cars to re-enter the Peraltada halfway through the corner.
The circuit has the highest altitude of any Formula One event on the calendar all year and this affects aerodynamics as well as top speed. On the 1.3 kilometre main straight, the 1.6L turbocharged V6 era cars will exceed 330kph.
The current Grand Prix circuit is 4.304km (2.674mi) in length with 17 corners and runs in a clockwise direction.
Race distance is 305.354km (190.846mi) in length with 71 laps in total.
Nico Rosberg holds the fastest lap record at the Mexican Grand Prix with a 1:20.521 set in 2015 with his Mercedes AMG Petronas F1-W06 Hybrid.
Jim Clark holds the record of most Mexican Grand Prix victories with three.
Team Lotus are the most successful constructor at the Mexican Grand Prix with four victories.
The last five Mexican Grand Prix winners
2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 1992: Nigel Mansell, Williams-Renault. 1991: Riccardo Patrese, Williams-Renault. 1990: Alain Prost, Scuderia Ferrari.
Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Mexico, the purple-branded Ultra Softs, the red-marked Super Softs, the yellow-branded P-Zero Soft rubber along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have selected nine sets of the faster ultra -soft compounds. Hamilton opted for three sets of super-softs and one set of softs while Mercedes team-mate Bottas has chosen two sets of super-softs and softs.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen will both have seven sets of ultra-softs, with title-contender Vettel choosing five super-softs and one set of softs while Ferrari team-mate Räikkönen will have four sets of super-softs and two sets of softs.
Red Bull were the most conservative with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen both opting for six sets of ultra-softs, four sets of super-softs and three sets of softs.
DRS Zones
At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez there will be two DRS Zones, with the detection point between turns 14 and 15 with the first activation point on the main straight with the second activation zone between turns 3 and 4 on the second straight.
Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
The Situation
Lewis Hamilton comes to Mexico sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 331 points and a 66 point-lead over title-rival Sebastian Vettel while Valtteri Bottas is a further 87 points behind the Briton in third on 244 points.
Hamilton will wrap up his fourth World Driver’s Championship crown at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez if he finishes in the top five places or Vettel does not finish in the top two. Vettel however can claim his fifth title should he win the final three races and Hamilton retire three times consecutively.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport returns to Mexico City with the Constructors Championship secured and sits on top of the standings with 575 points and a 147 gap over nearest rivals Ferrari with Red Bull Racing a further 260 points behind the Silver Arrows in third on 315 points.
Scuderia Toro Rosso for the third time will field a different driver line up after the Faenza-based squad confirmed that Brendon Hartley will partner Pierre Gasly. The move sees Daniil Kvyat benched once again despite the Russian driver scoring one point in his return at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, his first race back after a two race absence.
2017 World Drivers Championship Standings – Top 10
- Lewis Hamilton – 331 Points
- Sebastian Vettel – 265 Points
- Valtteri Bottas – 244 Points
- Daniel Ricciardo – 192 Points
- Kimi Räikkönen – 160 Points
- Max Verstappen – 126 Points
- Sergio Pérez – 86 Points
- Esteban Ocon – 73 Points
- Carlos Sainz – 54 Points
- Felipe Massa – 36 Points
2017 World Constructors Championship Standings
- Mercedes AMG F1 – 575 Points
- Scuderia Ferrari – 428 Points
- Red Bull Racing – 315 Points
- Force India F1 Team – 159 Points
- Williams Martini Racing – 68 Points
- Scuderia Toro Rosso – 53 Points
- Renault Sport F1 – 48 Points
- Haas F1 Team – 43 Points
- McLaren-Honda F1 – 23 Points
- Sauber F1 Team – 5 Points
The Formula 1 Gran Premio De Mexico 2016 weekend kicks off with Free Practice 1 and 2 Friday October 27, Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 28 and the 71 lap Mexican Grand Prix Sunday October 29.