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Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2023 Race Start. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2024 Mexican GP Preview, F1 Mexican GP Preview, 2024 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix Preview.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – After Charles Leclerc lead from Carlos Sainz to bring home a Ferrari one-two finish at the Circuit of the Americas to bring them closer in the battle for the World Constructor’s Championship meanwhile the fight for the World Driver’s Championship intensified as Max Verstappen won the Sprint and took home a third placed-finish to increase his lead over Lando Norris by 57 points with the latter being hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving a track and gaining an advantage and thus demoted to fourth behind the Dutchman, we now turn to round 20 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship this weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico for the Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024. This will be the 25th time that Mexico will be hosting a Grand Prix and the twentieth as part of the FIA Formula One World Championship. This is the second race of a back-to-back-to-back weekends with the US and Brazilian Grands Prix.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – 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 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.
Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest lap record at the Mexican Grand Prix with a 1:17.774 set at the 2021 event in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W12 E Performance racer.
Max Verstappen holds the record of most Mexican Grand Prix victories with five.
Oracle Red Bull Racing is the most successful constructor at the Mexican Grand Prix with five victories to their name.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – The Last Five Mexican Grand Prix Winners
2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2020: Not held. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – Onboard lap of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Here is the onboard pole lap of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez set at last year’s Mexico City Grand Prix by Charles Leclerc in his Scuderia Ferrari SF-23 racer, with the Monegasque driver posting a blistering 1:17.166. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8v01p4NiLM
2024 Mexican GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Mexico, the white side-walled C3 Hards, the yellow-branded C4 Mediums and the red-marked C5 Softs along with the green-marked Intermediate and blue-branded Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.
Teams will also trial a prototype C6 tyre this weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the second practice session for the weekend, which will run for 90 minutes.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the hards.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – 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.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Leclerc leads home Ferrari 1-2 at US GP
Leclerc US GP Victory – Charles Leclerc lead home team-mate Carlos Sainz to bring Ferrari a one-two victory at the US GP in Austin, Texas as championship leader Max Verstappen completed the top three after a thrilling battle with title-rival Lando Norris as the latter was hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
This was Leclerc’s third win of the season as he lead the majority of the Grand Prix and the one-two finish for the Scuderia brings them ever closer in the battle for the Constructor’s Championship now just eight points behind second-placed Red Bull and 48 points behind leaders McLaren.
In the World Driver’s Championship standings, Verstappen’s lead over Norris has increased to 57 points as they head to Mexico next weekend.
When the 56-lap US GP began, pole-sitter Norris got a slightly better start than Verstappen as both ran wheel-to-wheel into turn one.
Verstappen squeezed Norris wide out of the opening corner as Ferrari’s Leclerc made his way ahead into the lead as they ran through to the Esses.
Sainz had a look at Verstappen into turn 12, the latter had to slide off the track and came back in-front of the Ferrari.
At the end of the opening lap, Leclerc held a 1.584 second lead over Verstappen with Sainz third, Norris fourth, and Piastri fifth.
Further back, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton made an excellent start finding his way up to 12th.
Third-placed Sainz was all over the back of the Dutchman and whilst he was keeping the Red Bull driver busy, race leader Leclerc was driving off into the distance.
The yellow flags were waving as Hamilton was seen beached in the gravel spinning his wheels and could not get back onto the track.
The safety car was deployed as Hamilton became the first retiree of the race.
Replays showed Hamilton clipped the kerb at the penultimate corner and spun off into the gravel trap.
On the fifth tour, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Alexander Albon took the opportunity to pit for a fresh set of the C3 yellow side-walled medium tyre.
When the safety car came in and the race resumed on lap six, race leader Leclerc pulled away at the penultimate corner with second-placed Verstappen anticipating the Ferrari driver’s jump.
The championship leader was right behind the Monegasque into the opening corner and was at 0.753 seconds behind as they reached turn 12.
At the beginning of lap seven, Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen was at 1.246 seconds with Sainz in DRS range of the Dutchman in third and the two McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri completed the top five runners.
Behind them Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg with DRS assistance made a move on the inside of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso into turn 12 to jump into tenth place.
In the battle for second on the eighth lap, Verstappen increased his gap over Sainz to 1.716 seconds breaking himself out of DRS range.
Fifth-placed Piastri did not have the same pace as his McLaren team-mate Norris and was dropping off the back of the Briton and had Alpine’s Pierre Gasly behind him for company.
Verstappen started to put his foot down and was starting to eat into race leader Leclerc’s gap.
Lap 10 saw Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen sitting at 3.1 seconds with Sainz holding third, Norris fourth, Piastri fifth as Gasly rounded out the top six.
Third-placed Sainz reported “It smells a lot like fuel in the car guys,” as the Spaniard was falling into the clutches of former team-mate Norris.
Further back, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu suffered a spin into the opening corner as the Chinese driver dropped to the back of the pack.
A tour later, Ferrari gave Sainz some instructions and he stopped leaking time to the McLaren behind, but now the Spaniard was 1.5 seconds behind second-placed Verstappen.
On the 12th lap, race leader Leclerc pulled out another half-a-second over Verstappen. If they finished as they are, the latter will have a further six points over Norris in the World Driver’s Championship overall as they head to Mexico City next weekend.
Further back, RB’s Liam Lawson who started 19th on the grid, was on the move and up into 11th place, after picking off Alonso – with the duo having some heat all weekend long. The Kiwi was 2.3 seconds off the back of Hulkenberg and a championship point in his sights.
The 15th tour saw race leader’s Leclerc 6.131 seconds ahead of Verstappen, with Sainz third and 1.939 seconds off the Red Bull, Norris fourth, Piastri fifth as Gasly completed the top six.
Race leader Leclerc was calling for plan B or C – likely a two stop for either a medium-hard or a late, short stint on the softer compound as behind him second-placed Verstappen reported a small issue that the Red Bull team were looking into as the gap continued to increase.
Further back, Russell picked off Williams’ Franco Colapinto for 13th place and was under investigation by the stewards for forcing Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas wide.
A lap later, the Briton was hit with a five-second penalty for his overtake on Bottas, which he and Team Principal Toto Wolff called it “a joke.”
Leclerc’s lead on lap 18 was up to 7.489 seconds clear of Verstappen and making solid progress in cleaner air meanwhile further behind, Perez picked off RB’s Yuki Tsunoda for eighth.
Both Gasly and Tsunoda pitted for their fresh set of hards and emerged in 16th and 17th respectively. Magnussen’s undercut working to perfection over the pairing.
Leclerc’s race lead on lap 21 over Verstappen was at 8.483 seconds with Sainz only 1.5 seconds further back on the Dutchman with Norris fourth and Piastri rounding out the top five.
On the 22nd lap, third placed Sainz pitted for his fresh set of the C2 hards and came out in clean air just ahead of Perez in fifth place as the Ferrari driver looks to attempt the undercut on Verstappen as behind them Russell overtook Lawson for eighth place.
Red Bull opted not to react immediately to Ferrari stopping Sainz and left Verstappen out. For how much longer it remained to be seen as behind them third-placed Norris was told “We appear to have lower deg than the cars ahead, so we may try to extend past them.”
Leclerc reported to his team “Don’t leave me out too long, I don’t want to be under pressure.”
On the 25th lap Leclerc’s lead over Verstappen was sitting at 11.056 seconds with Norris third, Piastri fourth as Sainz completed the top five.
Second-placed Verstappen came in to stop on lap 26 for his fresh set of the C2’s and emerged in fifth behind Sainz.
A tour later, Leclerc pitted from the lead for his fresh set of hards and came out in third behind the two yet-to-pit McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri.
Meanwhile behind them Perez stopped from sixth along with Alonso as both drivers emerged in 11th and 18th respectively.
Both McLaren’s out-front remained out on track in the top two places with the Woking based-outfit looking to stay out long and hoping to make up places later on in the race.
Meanwhile Hulkenberg pitted for his fresh set of hards and emerged behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 12th.
On the 30th tour, the yet-to-pit Norris was sitting 5.038 seconds clear of team-mate Piastri with Leclerc only 0.751 seconds behind the Australian in third, Sainz fourth as Verstappen completed the top five.
Lap 31 saw Leclerc within DRS range of Piastri and with the rear wing adjusted on the back straight, the Ferrari made the move on the inside into turn 12 to take second place.
Meanwhile race leader Norris is told to box and came in a tour later for his fresh set of the harder rubber, emerging in fifth place behind Verstappen.
A lap later Piastri finally made his stop from second for his fresher set of the C2’s and came out behind team-mate Norris in fifth.
On lap 34, Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was at 7.177 seconds with Verstappen third, Norris fourth as Piastri rounded out the top five.
Third-placed Verstappen complained of tyre wear, and Sainz had to push his tyres hard to get the undercut on the Red Bull with both drivers looking potentially vulnerable to the McLaren’s later on.
Further back, sixth-placed Russell was yet-to-pit and had not served his penalty yet. With Gasly’s looking to be added to his race time if he remained out for a one-stopper whilst RB’s Tsunoda was hit with a five-second timed penalty for overtaking Albon off the track.
On the 37th tour, seventh-placed Lawson pitted for his fresh set of hards and came out in-front of team-mate Tsunoda in 12th.
Meanwhile Norris took two seconds out of Verstappen as the latter complained that “These tyres are just not good, I can’t brake, I can’t attack anything.”
Perez finally wrestled his way past Williams’ Franco Colapinto for seventh place, meanwhile out-front Norris brought the gap to third-placed Verstappen down to 2.5 seconds.
On the 39th lap with his fresher rubber, Lawson made a move on the inside of Gasly into turn 12 to move into the final points place for RB.
With 16 laps remaining Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was 6.751 seconds with Verstappen third, Norris fourth as Piastri completed the top five.
Further behind, eighth-placed Franco Colapinto stopped for his fresh set of C3 medium compounds and came out in 12th place ahead of Magnussen.
The Argentine managed to keep the Dane behind in turn 12 to keep the position.
Meanwhile Russell pitted from sixth for his fresh set of mediums and emerged in eighth place behind Hulkenberg.
On lap 43, the fight for third place was beginning to intensify as Norris edged ever closer to Verstappen, with the gap down to 1.272 seconds as the latter was unhappy with his tyres.
Further back fifth-placed Piastri was falling back and could not keep up pace with his team-mate.
On the back straight with DRS assistance, Norris took another three-tenths out of Verstappen as the Briton got closer to his championship rival.
With DRS on the main-straight, Norris got much closer to the Red Bull into turn one on lap 45.
Later on in the lap, Verstappen had extra battery stored to deploy the MGU-K to cover off Norris on the back-straight.
With ten laps remaining, Leclerc’s lead over team-mate Sainz was down to 5.2 seconds, as Norris got closer to third placed Verstappen as Piastri rounded out the top five.
On the back-straight, once again Verstappen managed to keep the charging Norris at bay once more.
Meanwhile, on the beginning on lap 47, Verstappen suffered a lock-up into turn one as the Dutchman fell into the clutches of Norris.
On the back straight with DRS, Norris got within the slipstream as Verstappen covered the inside from the McLaren into turn 12 making the former have to look the long way round. Verstappen kept the MCL38 entry behind yet again.
A lap later, Norris once more with DRS on the back-straight, tried to have a look on Verstappen but the latter closed the door on the inside into turn 12 to keep the place.
On the 49th tour, Verstappen covered the inside into the uphill turn one left-hander and Norris done the switch back but could not get past the RB20.
Norris once again with DRS assistance kept applying the pressure to championship rival Verstappen on the back-straight but could not get ahead.
Verstappen moved to the inside to cover turn one again from Norris as Bottas dived out of the way to keep out of the battle.
Once again Verstappen kept Norris behind on the main-straight into turn one, once they reached turn 11, the latter was much closer and could not get in-front of the former.
Through the Hockenheim-style section both drivers ran wheel-to-wheel and out through the turn 15, 16, and 17 section, but Norris could not get ahead of Verstappen.
With five laps left, Leclerc’s lead was sitting at six seconds over Sainz with Verstappen third, Norris right behind in fourth as Piastri completed the top five.
On the back straight with DRS assistance, Norris made a move on the outside of Verstappen into turn 12 as the Briton was forced off the track and the McLaren made his way ahead of the Red Bull to take third place.
Verstappen reported to his team over the radio that Norris left the track and gained an advantage as the race stewards are currently looking at the incident.
The Red Bull team told Verstappen that the stewards were looking into it and needs to stick close in-case a penalty was coming in the way of the Briton.
And Norris could be hit with a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits with the McLaren driver potentially having another hit for that.
Norris was hit with a five-second timed penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage,
Leclerc crossed the line to take the victory by 8.562 seconds over team-mate Sainz to bring home a Ferrari one-two as Verstappen came home third after Norris was hit with his five-second timed penalty.
Piastri settled for fifth and ahead of Russell who took sixth and Perez who came home seventh.
Haas’s Hulkenberg reached the chequered flag eighth as Lawson and Colapinto rounded out the top ten runners.
The other Haas VF-24 entry of Magnussen finished outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of Gasly who ended the Grand Prix 12th and Aston Martin’s Alonso who came 13th in the classification.
RB’s Tsunoda crossed the line 14th and ahead of the second AMR24 entry of Lance Stroll who finished 15th and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who was 16th.
Sauber’s Bottas and Zhou came home in 17th and at the rear as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon split the duo in 18th.
2024 Mexican GP Preview – The Situation
It’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the second leg of the sport’s late-season triple-header in the Americas as the thrilling Formula 1 campaign rolls on to the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.
The middle leg of three Grands Prix either side of the USA and Brazil, F1’s yearly visit to one of the world’s most atmospheric tracks comes on the back of an epic race at the Circuit Of The Americas where Ferrari triumphed and championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris found themselves at the centre of another controversial moment.
The sport left Austin with Verstappen holding a 57-point advantage over Norris in the World Driver’s Championship standings with five rounds remaining, whilst Ferrari scoring a one-two suggests they could be mounting a late charge towards their first World Constructor’s Championship since 2008 having cut their deficit to second-placed Red Bull to just eight points and leaders McLaren to 48.
Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have won the sport’s last three visits to Mexico, but as in Texas, recent past form is not counting for much currently with the competitive order of the leading teams changing from circuit to circuit regularly.
With the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez always providing a challenge for F1’s teams and engine manufacturers given it has an altitude level of 7,300ft above sea level, meaning there is less air going through the 1.6L V6 Turbocharged Hybrid power-trains, a surprise or two through the pack can never be ruled out.
Home favourite Sergio Perez is the country’s icon on home tarmac, and he’ll be desperate to turn things around in-front of his own fans to not only help Red Bull’s faltering title quest but try to solidify his own future at the Milton Keynes based-outfit beyond the rest of the campaign.
Tune in to the only Grand Prix weekend of the Americas triple-header, which does not feature the F1 Sprint format.
Verstappen returns to Mexico City on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings and sitting on 354 points with a 52-point advantage over McLaren’s Norris who is second on 297 points whilst Leclerc is third and a further 79 behind the Dutchman on 275 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team returns to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on top of the World Constructor’s Championship, currently sitting on top with 544 points with a 40-point gap over nearest rivals Oracle Red Bull Racing who are second on 504 points while Scuderia Ferrari are a further 48 behind the Woking based-outfit in third on 496 points.
Reserves Oliver Bearman and Felipe Drugovich will drive the Ferrari and Aston Martin in opening practice respectively.
Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De Mexico 2024 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.
