© Vladimir RysHome Race History: MexicoTime to look at the history of our fifth home race of the season.
The2021MexicoCityGrandPrixrepresentsourfifthandfinalhomeraceoftheseason.We’vehadSilverstone–wheretheTeamisbased,twoinAustria–theflagweflyunder,Zandvoort–Max’shomeraceandfinallyMexico–it’sCheco’sturn!
So, this is the last in the series of Home Race History where we delve into the past and look at how our home racetracks have developed into the extravaganza they are now.
Home Race At Mexico City Grand Prix© Vladimir Rys
The Mexico City Grand Prix has a long history and interesting start. Legend has it that two of Mexico’s best racing stars Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez’ father worked for the Mexican President in the 1950s. The two drivers mentioned to their dad that it might be a good idea for Mexico to host a Grand Prix. Rodriguez senior spoke to his boss and the Mexico City Grand Prix was born.
A track was built around the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports Park in Mexico City (now called the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and on the original site – but more on that later). The track is 2km above sea level and along with the banking of the 180-degree Perltada corner, it makes it an interesting – and breathless – race for engineers and drivers alike.
Mexico held its first non-championship Formula One race in 1962, then returned a year later as a championship race won by Jim Clark. The popularity and crowd size of the track saw Mexico host the finale of every season from 1964-1970. Unfortunately, Mexico was removed from the Formula One Calendar in 1971 due to crowd trouble in 1968 and 1970.
More than 200,000 people arrived to watch the race, causing officials to have to delay the race start by an hour. The crowd threw bottles onto the track and at one point a dog ran on and was hit by Jackie Stewart.
Sunset At Mexico City Grand Prix© Vladimir Rys
After a 16-year absence, the Mexican Grand Prix returned in 1986, one year after a devastating earthquake had struck Mexico City. During this time the circuit was redesigned to improve safety, but the track surface remained uneven and banked. The race was won by Austrian, Gerhard Berger, claiming the first victory of his Formula One career in his Benetton B186.
Mexico enjoyed F1 until 1992 when the race was taken off the calendar again, due to problems with the dangerously bumpy track surface, which was also compounded by terrible air pollution and growing civil unrest in Mexico City.
Crowd Pumped Up At Mexico City Grand Prix© Vladimir Rys
After another long gap in 2011, Carlos Slim Domit revealed plans for a return of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Before the race could return though a huge renovation project was required to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. This not only included the infrastructure but also tweaks to the circuit as well. So, unsurprisingly Hermann Tilke was given a call and his changes included a new sequence of corners to open the lap at turns one, two and three, and also a new stadium section was introduced in place of the dangerous Peraltada corner. The rest of the track was also rebuilt and realigned but retained the original outline of the track.
The changes were phased in over time to allow other racing activity to continue and the whole complex was complete by August 2015 ready to host the return of the Mexico City Grand Prix in November of the same year.
Race Celebrations At Mexico City Grand Prix© Vladimir Rys
The 2015 race saw Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo racing for Red Bull Racing and finished an P4 and P5 respectively. At the time Max was racing for Toro Rosso and finished in P8, one place above his now teammate Sergio Pérez.
The 2016 race saw Daniel take P3 and claim the Team’s first podium in Mexico. The following year, Max came into his own. He qualified in P2 behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, but was able to get in front of him by turn two. Max never looked back and took the chequered flag, making it the third win of his career.
In 2018 Max had an almost identical race, he started in P2 but pole position-holder Ricciardo got off to a bad start giving Max the lead, which he kept it until the end. For the 2019 Max qualified on pole, but was given a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow down under yellow flags. During the race he was only able to bring his RB15 home in P6, just behind then teammate Alex Albon.
The Bulls Are Ready For Mexico© Vladimir Rys
