#F1 Gran Premio De Mexico 2019 Preview – #MexicanGP #F1ESTA

After Valtteri Bottas cruised to a dominant Japanese Grand Prix victory, round 19 of the 2019 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 2019. This will be the 21^st time that Mexico will be hosting a Grand Prix and the nineteenth 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, its 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 19^th 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.

 

Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest lap record at the Mexican Grand Prix with a 1:18.741 set at last year’s event with his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+.

 

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.

 

Onboard lap of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

 

 

Here is the onboard pole lap of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez set at last year’s Mexican Grand Prix by Daniel Ricciardo in his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Renault RB14, with the Australian posting a blistering 1:14.759. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUtxxUaCIpo

 

The last five Mexican Grand Prix winners

 

 

2018: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2017: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 1992: Nigel Mansell, Williams-Renault.

 

Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Mexico, the white side-walled C1 Hards, the yellow-branded C2 Mediums and the red-marked C4 Softs along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.

 

Rivals Mercedes and Ferrari have opted for less sets of the softer rubber at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

 

Whilst both outfits have chosen eight sets of the softest available compound at most races this season, both will bring just seven sets at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

 

Four drivers on the grid will have five sets of the C3 mediums, which includes Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, while his team-mate Valtteri Bottas will have an extra set of hards and one set fewer of the mediums.

 

Defending race winner’s Red Bull Racing have gone more aggressive than it’s front-running rivals opting for nine sets of the softest tyre. Like Ferrari and Haas F1 Team, they only have one mandatory set of the C1 hards at their disposal. Other competitors have all taken one extra set of hards, while McLaren and Racing Point have two sets each for their respective drivers.

 

DRS Zones

At the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez there will be three DRS Zones, with the first detection point 70 metres after turn nine and the first activation point 80 metres after turn 11. The following two detection points share the same zone, situated at the exit of turn 15. The second zone’s activation point is 323 metres after turn 17 with the third activation point 116 metres after turn three.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Japanese GP Rewind – Bottas cruises to dominant victory

 

 

Valtteri Bottas cruised to a dominant Japanese Grand Prix victory as Mercedes wrapped up their sixth consecutive Constructors Championship.

 

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel managed to fend off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to hold second place.

 

When the Japanese Grand Prix began, pole-sitter Vettel got a poor start (avoiding a jump-start in the process) and Bottas shot past from third into the lead on the rundown into turn one.

 

After Vettel dropped to second, Leclerc’s race was compromised.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Leclerc tangled with each other trying to go round the outside of the latter through the first two corners, but they touched at turn two and the Red Bull slid across the grass.

 

Leclerc continued on for two laps running third, frustrating Hamilton as the young Monegasque’s SF90 racer’s damaged front wing scattered debris and showered sparks in-front of the chasing Mercedes, which broke Hamilton’s front mirror.

 

On the third lap, Leclerc pitted and emerged at the rear of the field behind Verstappen – as the race stewards re-opened a noted case between the pairing’s collision with the post-race investigation seeing the former being hit with a 15 second-time penalty added to his race time (five for the incident with Verstappen and 10 for ignoring the FIA’s request to pit for a new front wing when damaged).

 

Leclerc has been demoted to seventh, promoting Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo to sixth.

 

As Leclerc pushed his way back to sixth (demoted to seventh see above), Verstappen’s day ended early as the Dutchman was forced to retire on lap 15.

 

Vettel’s escaped a penalty from the stewards, which allowed him to continue fighting on with the front-running Mercedes and hold up Hamilton, allowing Bottas to control and Grand Prix and extend his race lead.

 

Ferrari struck first, pitting Vettel on lap 16 for a fresh set of soft rubber, with Bottas reacting a lap later then Hamilton three laps afterwards.

 

During that period, Bottas’ advantage over Vettel grew while Hamilton dropped more than 20 seconds down, a move that left the championship leader irritated.

 

The top three committed to a two-stop strategy – Despite Mercedes reporting to Bottas that Hamilton would stick to a one stopper – but ran it differently.

 

Vettel pitted on lap 31 for mediums while the Silver Arrows remained out longer and opted for the softs.

 

Bottas came in on lap 36 and at that point, saw the Finn 14 seconds clear of Hamilton, as the latter ran an extra seven laps before making his final stop.

 

This left Bottas in-front of Vettel by ten seconds, with Hamilton within five seconds of the German and fitted with fresher softer compounds.

 

With five laps remaining, Hamilton got within DRS range of the Ferrari and had half a look into the first corner, but Vettel withstood the pressure and the Briton ran slightly wide.

 

Hamilton had a much better chance with three laps remaining when Vettel got stuck behind Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, backing the Ferrari into Hamilton and giving the Mercedes a good run.

 

But Hamilton closed in on Vettel too late on the straight to mount an overtake, and the latter maintained second place to the chequered flag.

 

Bottas’ victory, his first since April’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, cut team-mate Hamilton’s championship lead to 66 points with 104 points still up for grabs.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon secured his best result in Formula 1, taking fourth place despite dropping behind the two McLaren’s at the start.

 

The Thai-Briton driver made up one of those places in the early stages with a lunge on Lando Norris that saw the two collide at the Casio Triangle Chicane.

 

Albon got in-front of Carlos Sainz by pitting twice as the latter took on a one-stop strategy to come home fifth in his McLaren.

 

McLaren could have potentially had a double points finish, but after the tangle with Albon, Norris was forced to pit early because debris from Leclerc’s front wing got caught in the MCL34’s brake ducts. Norris wound up 13th.

 

Renault’s Ricciardo recovered to seventh place (promoted to sixth due to aforementioned Leclerc penalty) after running a very long first stint on mediums then putting on softs until the end as the Australian flew past several cars with a handful of laps remaining.

 

Ricciardo got ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg for ninth and promised the French-Enstone squad “I’ll get them” as he hunted down Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Gasly, who he then charged by in quick succession.

 

Stroll fell from the top ten in the later stages, with Hulkenberg snatching ninth and team-mate Sergio Perez stealing the final points place from the Canadian on the penultimate lap.

 

But after also passing Hulkenberg, Perez crashed out on the final lap after tangling with Gasly, which promoted Stroll to eleventh.

 

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat settled for 12th place and in-front of the aforementioned Norris who took 13th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen who ended the Grand Prix 14th.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished 15th and 17th respectively with the second Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi who came home in-between the duo in 16th.

 

The two ROKiT Williams Racing FW42’s of George Russell and Robert Kubica brought up the rear.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to Mexico sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 338 points and a 64 point-advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 274 points. The Briton just needs to outscore the Finn by 14 points to secure his sixth Drivers’ title but could have his race made difficult this weekend due to his team-mate in winning form, the straight-line speed advantage of the Ferrari’s could pose a threat and a charging Red Bull of Max Verstappen who will be looking to score his third-successive victory in Mexico. Charles Leclerc is a further 115 points behind Hamilton in third on 223 points.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport comes to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with the Constructors Championship wrapped up and on top with 612 points. The Silver Arrows have a 179-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 433 points while Red Bull Racing is third and a further 289 behind Mercedes in third on 323 points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 338 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 274 Points.
3. Charles Leclerc – 223 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 212 Points.
5. Sebastian Vettel – 212 Points.
6. Carlos Sainz – 76 Points.
7. Pierre Gasly – 73 Points.
8. Alexander Albon – 64 Points.
9. Daniel Ricciardo – 40 Points.
10. Nico Hulkenberg – 35 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 612 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 433 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 323 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 111 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 75 Points.
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 59 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 54 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Racing – 35 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 28 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

 

The Formula 1 Gran Premio De Mexico 2019 weekend begins Friday October 25 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 26 and the 71 lap Race Sunday October 27.

 

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