Mexican Grand Prix 2015, Mexico City - Race 17/19

Man of Honour
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Mexico City

As the name suggests, the history of Mexico's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is interwoven with that of brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez. It was the former's emergence in 1961, driving for Ferrari aged just 19, that provided the spark, prompting the decision to build a 5-kilometre circuit in the public Magdalena Mixhuca park in the east of Mexico City. And it was the latter's success later that decade which helped build an incredibly fervent home support for the event.

But the Rodriguez brothers' story was also one of tragedy. Plans for the newly-constructed circuit to host Formula One racing in 1962 were not realised, but a non-championship event went ahead and the teams duly gathered at the venue at the end of October. With Ferrari not in attendance, Ricardo Rodriguez entered in a Rob Walker-run Lotus 24. In qualifying, he crashed and was killed.

The Mexican fans were devastated, but they soon discovered a new hero in Ricardo's younger brother Pedro. Already established in international sportscar racing, Pedro made only his second F1 start in the inaugural world championship Mexican Grand Prix in 1963. He ran in the top 10 until suspension issues forced him to retire. Victory went to Lotus's Jim Clark, who led every lap and won by almost two minutes - a dominance that matched the manner in which he had already swept to that year's world championship crown.

There was much excitement the following year, as Mexico - now moved to be the season's final round - welcomed a three-way fight for the title that was eventually settled, after a race of constant tension and late drama, in favour of John Surtees. The Briton became the first, and to date only, man to clinch world championships on two and four wheels.

Mexico would become the traditional end-of-season event in the late '60s, but while Pedro scored a breakthrough F1 win in 1967, home success continued to elude him as Richie Ginther, Surtees, Clark, Graham Hill, Denny Hulme and Jacky Ickx triumphed through to 1970. The latter's triumph would also be the last race held in Mexico for more than a decade. Two years later, Pedro would lose his life in a sportscar race in Germany.

It was not until 1986 that Formula One racing would return to Mexico City. Led by Jose and Julian Abed, the venue was revamped and the circuit slightly revised, with a new profile at Turn 1 and a shortened hairpin section. It remained a great challenge, however, and not just because of the curling, banked final corner of Peraltada. The high altitude continued to place a unique demand on engines, while the rough surface was difficult to master - and became an increasing problem over the following years.

Gerhard Berger sprang a surprise in that '86 race by collecting his and Benetton's first Grand Prix win. A year later victory went to Nigel Mansell, although the race had to be stopped after the bumpy surface led to a massive crash for Derek Warwick. One year later Philippe Alliot suffered an even bigger accident in practice, although he was thankfully able to crawl unhurt from the wreckage. Alain Prost won the race, a feat he repeated in 1990, sandwiching Ayrton Senna's only triumph on the circuit. The Brazilian would fall victim to the unpredictable surface in '91, rolling after losing the rear of his McLaren over the Peraltada bumps in qualifying. Riccardo Patrese won for Williams, and one year later followed team mate Nigel Mansell home.

That would prove to be the final Grand Prix held on the circuit - which still hosted a number of national and international championships over the subsequent years - until a return to the F1 calendar was sealed for 2015 after an injection of both private and government money. The facility has been comprehensively upgraded, while the entire track is being resurfaced for the occasion and changes made to a number of corners including Peraltada.


TV Times

Sky:
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BBC:
[to be added]


Track Diagram & Information

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Weather Forecast

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Mexico Preview Quotes

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2015/10/mexico-preview-quotes.html


WDC Standings

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Constructors' Championship Standings

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Pole Positions & Winners Per Grand Prix

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Practice 1

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Practice 2

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Practice 3

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Qualifying

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Race

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Man of Honour
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Lets see ros crumble from Vet this time.
Expect to see hammy even better now all pressure is off and he's on a high.

And hopefully KR will crash out and show yet again he should be retired or in a midfield car(let him go fight it out with Masa down the field) and give someone else a chance in that decent seat of his.
 
Soldato
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I hope it drives better than it looks, those mickey mouse sections at turns 4-6 and 12-16 look pants!

At least 4-6 are based on previous versions of the track. Even the original track in the 60s had a hairpin there (albeit much tighter, a little bit banked, single apex and with a slightly longer straight leading up to it). Even turns 4 and 5 have always been there on the original track, but they were more open than this one.

I'm more annoyed that they appeared to have squared off some of the sweepers through the middle. That was a fantastic sequence of corners, but they've lost some of the curve to them - they're a touch sharper at the apex.

Still, I'm trying (badly) to reserve opinion. Nobody expected turn 8 at Turkey to be quite that special, so you never know.
 
Caporegime
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Old vs new.

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Looks like a 3 year old has tried to trace over the track and missed in most of the places...
 

JRS

JRS

Soldato
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Okay, so I accept that they couldn't keep the Pereltada. I don't like it, but I accept it. But did they really have to make such a hashed up mess of the first half of it? They've got about five corners in there now with the entry to the complex at T12 and the exit at T16 - they could have done that in three, and the result would have been far less Mickey Mouse.
 
Caporegime
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Yeah the CART layout was just 3 corners.

If you look back at the Notebook Ted did when FI did their 'Livery Launch' in Mexico at the start of the year he picked up on that point too. His reasoning was that the corners are designed to slow the cars down as much as possible to maximise the time they are inside the stadium to allow for photos and things for the fans.

:/
 

JRS

JRS

Soldato
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Oh, I see! I'm sorry, I was under what I see now is a laughable misapprehension! I thought this was a racing circuit, when clearly it's actually a sort-of giant photographic studio.

Sorry about that guys, don't know how I could have become that confused. Carry on.




:D
 
Soldato
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Lets see ros crumble from Vet this time.
Expect to see hammy even better now all pressure is off and he's on a high.

And hopefully KR will crash out and show yet again he should be retired or in a midfield car(let him go fight it out with Masa down the field) and give someone else a chance in that decent seat of his.
Why is it that Massa has got such a bad rep considering he is only 2 points behind Bottas who is mean't to be a future world champion?
 
Man of Honour
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Why is it that Massa has got such a bad rep considering he is only 2 points behind Bottas who is mean't to be a future world champion?

This season is an outlier. Don't forget that Bottas was literally robbed of 15 points in Sochi and also did not race in Australia. Those two instances alone even without other considerations widens the gap a lot.
 
Caporegime
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Last year the only non-Mercedes pole was.......Massa.

Afaik he doesn't bring any sponsorship (or if he does it's not a lot) and is paid quite well by Williams who obviously rate him. He's been retained for next year.
 
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