Welcome to the relatively new circuit that has roots in the past, present, and future – Mexico.
Tyre’s from right in the middle of Pirelli’s range have been chosen for both legs of Formula 1’s American double-header, with Mexico first, followed by the USA a week later.
Autrodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which is named after Mexico’s two most celebrated drivers, this is where teams tend to aim for a one-stopper race, so a harder choice allows them to push hard from the start to the finish of every stint, rather than rely on pace management.
Last year, we were shown by Max Verstappen and Red Bull that the winning strategy was a two-stopper race with an ample range of tactics seen.
Mexico is a mixed circuit with a wide variety of speeds and corners. As well as two very rapid straights, and a twisty stadium section (where an old baseball stadium used to be).
Both Ferrari and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton have chosen an identical tyre allocation for Mexico.
Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas has gone for an extra set of hards, while Red Bull has loaded up on softs.
This weekend we will see the C2 as the White hard, C3 as the Yellow medium, and C4 as the red soft.
Mario Isola, head of F1 and Car Racing,”Mexico has always been a tough and unpredictable race with a fantastic atmosphere : especially the stadium section, where the drivers say that they can hear the fans cheering.”
“There are some good overtaking opportunities over the course of the lap, and we’ve also seen a number of different strategic approaches in the past,as well as quite variable weather conditions,” he continued.
“The altitude of Mexico city definitely affects the cars and the set-up, and this has a knock- on effect for the tyres as well.”
“Even a high down force setting can feel like low down force, so there can be a lot of sliding,” he continued.
“Once more, we’ve brought a harder selection of compounds compared to last year: this should enable drives to push tyres to the maximum,” Mario Isola said.
