Formula 1’s America journey continues with a trip south for the Mexico City Grand Prix, one week on from the round in Austin. As usual, the atmosphere inside the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will be electrifying because of the exuberance of the fans who pack the grandstands in the spectacular Foro Solo stadium section.
The race is run over 71 laps of the 4.304 kilometres of Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez which boasts 17 corners. Its main peculiarity is its altitude, which at over 2,200 metres above sea level means the air is very rarefield. Therefore the cars generate less downforce making car set-up and technical management particularly demanding for the teams.
The main straight is over 1.2 kilometres long, on which the cars reach very high top speeds, partly down to the minimal downforce. The track surface is very smooth and at the start of the weekend does not provide much grip, as it does not get used much.
As was the case in Austin last weekend, for the Mexican round there is again a jump in the compound selection between the hardest of the three and the medium.
While the Medium and Soft are the C4 and C5 respectively, as in 2024, the Hard will now the C2. For the Mexico City track, this compound is an extremely conservative choice, with a considerable delta in terms of lap time compared to the other two, while also offering less grip.
Last year, the soft only came into play in qualifying and then in the race, only in an attempt to secure the extra point for setting the fastest lap, but now the scenario could change considerably.
In 2024, all drivers, except Sergio Perez, adopted a one-stop strategy last year. Most started on the medium compound, while six driver, all of whom went on to finish outside the top eleven, preferred the hard for the first stint.
United States racer Jak Crawford will make his Formula 1 weekend debut at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix when he gets a rookie run-out for Aston Martin.
Crawford will take over the AMR25 of Lance Stroll during Free Practice 1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in one of the team’s four mandated rookie outings for 2025.
Crawford is currently P2 in the Formula 2 standings – while the Houston, Texas born driver has a wealth of experience in F1 machinery, having racked up over 2,000km of testing in various Aston Martin F1 cars, as well as being a regular in the team’s simulator at their Silverstone headquarters.
Crawford is not the only rookie taking part in the FP1 sessions, with nine different rookies taking part.
I’m thrilled to drive the AMR25 next week in Mexico for my first official Formula One session. I’ve worked closely with the team all year, so to now take the next step and get track time on a Grand Prix weekend is really exciting. Announcing this in Texas, where I’m from, makes it even more special after a busy week with the team and Aramco in Houston. Crawford on the news.
It’s fantastic to give Jak the opportunity to take part in FP1 in Mexico. He’s shown real maturity and provided strong technical feedback throughout the year, and these sessions are an important part of how we develop young talent. Jak has had a strong season in Formula 2 and has been a key contributor to the development of both the AMR25 and AMR26. This is a great chance for him to continue progressing while helping us gather valuable data. Andy Cowell, CEO and Team Principal of Aston Martin.
Carlos Sainz has sealed an assured victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver bouncing back after initially losing the lead to Max Verstappen to score a fourth win in Formula 1.
Verstappen had initially moved into first place during an eventful start, but Sainz snatched the position back on Lap 9. Drama then unfolded in the laps that followed as Verstappen engaged in a scrap with title rival Lando Norris – leading to Verstappen having two 10-second penalties for his move on the Brit.
That melee allowed Charles Leclerc through into second, and from there the Ferrari duo enjoyed a mostly unchallenged drive at the front – until Norris managed to chase Leclerc down in the latter stages and take second place after a wide moment for the Monegasque.
The full top 10 are- P1: Sainz, P2: Norris, P3: Leclerc, P4: Hamilton, P5: Russell, P6: Verstappen, P7: Magnussen, P8: Piastri, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Gasly.
A great result for Ferrari! Just what the team needed and it now means with their result of 1st and 3rd, they leapfrog Red Bull in the constructors’ and now they are only 29 points away from McLaren! A good strategy for the team for both drivers as well, and they managed to snatch the fastest lap point.
A good result for Norris! P2 which helps in his championship fight, it does make you think what would’ve happened if he didn’t get into that fight with Verstappen at the beginning of the race, possibly of been fighting Sainz for the win? Who knows! A bit of work for Piastri he ended up finishing 8th, after climbing through the field after a tough qualifying on Saturday, hopefully he has a better weekend this weekend!
A very good result for Mercedes, unfortunately not enough pace for a podium, but P4 for Hamilton and P5 for Russell, which is very good for the team. Now they will be looking forward to this weekend, Mercedes normally perform very well around Brazil and as you know both drivers love it here.
An okay result for Verstappen, P6, it could’ve been a lot better for him, don’t get me wrong I don’t think he would’ve won the race but at least a podium was on the cards – however instead his gave 10 points towards Norris’ title fight… As for Perez – he had a good start making up quite a few places but he was also given a penalty for being too far in his grid box – he had some tough battles aswell and ended up getting damage he ended up finishing 17th which is last as we had 3 drivers retire! A weekend to majorly forget, but this really isn’t helping his fight for his seat next year…
A good result for Haas – they have managed to turn it around in the race to convert their qualifying results into points which is really good – I now feel like they will be hopefully like this for the rest of the season, they managed to grab 7th and 9th.
Gasly was the last of the points scorers, it is nice to see him back in the points – he makes it 6 different teams scoring points!
Now we don’t have to wait too long for the next race as it is this weekend, and it’s our final stop in this triple header! We are in Brazil for Round 21 where the Sprint returns!
Gracias Mexico! It’s incredible to see this crowd, I’ve been feeling their support all week. I feel like I have a lot of fanbase here in Mexico and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done. Honestly, I really wanted this one, I really needed it also for myself – I wanted to get it done. I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd is incredible. Now, four races left, I want to enjoy as much as possible and if another one comes, I will go for it. Sainz after winning.
Carlos Sainz has taken a stunning pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver going fastest from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris during what had been a dramatic qualifying session featuring a red flag and two shock exits in Q1.
While Verstappen looked like he initially sealed provisional pole in the first runs of Q3, the time was deleted due to track limits, which promoted Sainz up into the top spot. And when it came to the second runs, the Spaniard went even quicker by pumping in an impressive 1m 15.946s.
Verstappen claimed P2, the Red Bull man’s time 0.255s back from Sainz, while Norris took third after previously setting the pace in Q1 and Q2 for McLaren.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Sainz, P2: Verstappen, P3: Norris, P4: Leclerc, P5: Russell, P6: Hamilton, P7: Magnussen, P8: Gasly, P9: Albon, P10: Hulkenberg.
A lovely result for Ferrari, especially coming off the back of last weekend aswell! It’s Carlos’ best ever qualifying at Mexico and his first pole position of this season, which makes Ferrari the only team with both drivers on pole this season. Leclerc starting fourth aswell, which is a good result, he will be hoping to grab a podium at least. As coming into this weekend, Ferrari look like they are the team to win again.
A good result for Max, he had some struggles over the weekend in practice so to turn it around in qualifying is good, now to just hope that it all goes okay in the race. Perez made a bit of a shock Q1 exit at his home grand prix, starting 18th, which is a shame as no one wants to perform badly at home, but this is unfortunately just normal now…
McLaren have had a bit of a mixed result, Norris qualifying third, which is I believe the best place out of the top three to qualify here, as it is quite a long run down to turn one. His teammate qualified in P17, which was a shock, and his run of Q3 appearances comes to an end. He has a lot of work to do if he wants to score some points for the constructors championship.
A good result for Mercedes, P5 and P6, hopefully they can capitalise on it during the race and score some good points, maybe even score a podium if they are lucky.
A good result for Haas, P7 and P10, there having really good results at the moment, due to the upgrades they have brought, if they keep having good results and scoring points this is going to help their battle in the Constructor’s championship fight with VCARB…
I’m very happy. A great couple of laps. A lot of times around Mexico you always have the feeling like you cannot put a lap together and it’s extremely difficult with how much sliding there is, but today honestly my two laps of Q3 were pretty much identical, almost perfect. I just put two really solid laps in Q3, enough for pole, and I’m very happy because that’s not normally the case around Mexico with how tricky it is. Carlos Sainz on pole.
The second stop of our triple header is Mexico City, where the circuit is named in honour of the brothers, Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez.
The tyres for this this weekend are C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft), which is a step softer than past race weekends, this decision was taken in order to open up more strategic options for the race.
The first day of track action, Friday, will be slightly different than usual. The second free practice session will be entirely given over to validate the softer compounds in Pirelli’s 2025 race (C4, C5 and C6). The session is extended to 90 minutes instead of the usual 60 minutes, and all drivers and teams will have to follow a specific programme established by Pirelli.
The Hermanos Rodriguez track is 4.304km long, with 17 corners and a surface that is low in terms of its severity on tyres. They have resurfaced the section between turns 12 and 15 in the third sector – the smooth asphalt and the fact the track is hardly used means that grip levels are rather low at the start of the weekend.
Mexico City is located at over 2000 metres above sea level and the rarified air has an influence on car performance, reducing the aerodynamic downforce generated by the cars. One of the consequences of this is that top speeds reached are very high, despite a configuration that actually looks typical of tracks that require maximum downforce.
In terms of strategy, this is a usually a one-stop race. Last year, the majority of drivers tried to manage the Medium to lengthen the first stint as much as possible.
The second stop on #F1 long trip to the Americas will be the @mexicogp . The tyres are the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft. The first day of track action,will be slightly different to usual: you can find out more here 👇#F1ESTAhttps://t.co/3ULl81eI0Npic.twitter.com/JyafJ5ERgN
Mercedes junior, and next year’s replacement for Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli, will get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car as he takes part in his second FP1 session of the season in Mexico.
The 18 year old Italian will take over Hamilton’s W15 in Mexico City, having also driven on Friday at Monza in September. However, the session in Italy came to an early end as a high-speed crash saw him put his borrowed car into the Monza wall just minutes into his debut.
The crash had no bearing on Mercedes’ decision to promote the youngster, with Antonelli confirmed as Hamilton’s replacement at the Silver Arrows the very next day.
Antonelli is currently competing in Formula 2, where so far he has took two wins and 3 podiums, he currently sits sixth in the drivers’ championship with two rounds to go!
FIA regulations state all F1 drivers must sit out one FP1 each season for a rookie who has no more than two Grand Prix starts.
I’m looking forward to driving in FP1 and playing my part in helping the team make a good start on track this weekend. It is a new circuit for me and one I have been working hard to prepare for. The altitude makes it unique and it’s a challenge I’m excited to experience. I want to thank the team for giving me this opportunity to contribute. Antonelli on the outing.
Aston Martin have announced that test and reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich will make another free practice appearance for the team at the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix.
Brazilian racer Drugovich, is set to driver Fernando Alonso’s car during Friday’s opening session, partially fulfilling the requirement for each team to run a rookie driver in two FP1’s per season.
It will mark Drugovich’s first outing in the AMR24, which he has helped develop through simulator work at Aston Martin’s factory. He add’s to past FP1 runs in Abu Dhabi in 2022 and Italy and Abu Dhabi last season.
I’m really excited to drive the AMR24 for the first time – I’ve been looking forward to it for a while! I’ve spent a lot of the year working on the development of this car in the team’s simulator, so it will be valuable for me to feel the correlation between the sim and the real thing. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a track I haven’t driven before. It’s a challenging circuit with a mix of long straights and technical corners, so I’ll be spending time on the simulator ahead of the event so that I’m ready to go come FP1. Drugovich on the news.
We’re excited to give Felipe this first opportunity to drive the AMR24 during Free Practice 1 in Mexico City. Felipe is regularly in Silverstone on our simulator, contributing towards the development of this car with his detailed and thoughtful feedback, so it will be a rewarding experience for him to get out on track in Mexico. During the session, Felipe will be working his way through the team’s run plan, collecting vital data to support our decision-making throughout the rest of the weekend and aiding with the set-up of the car. Mike Krack, Aston Martin Team Principal.
Round 20 is over, and we had a very mixed race, with a top driver out on lap 1, a red flag due to another crash and a driver coming from the back to end up in the top 10.
Max Verstappen scored a dominant victory at this weekend’s Mexcio City Grand Prix, making it his 16th victory of the season. Lewis Hamilton made it back on the podium after being disqualified the weekend before. Charles Leclerc also makes it on the podium in third.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Leclerc, P4: Sainz, P5: Norris, P6: Russell, P7: Ricciardo, P8: Piastri, P9: Albon and P10: Ocon.
A good result for Hamilton and Leclerc, especially after being disqualified from Round 19 last week, this means for Hamilton that his closed the gap down to Perez.
Talking of Perez… he had a good start once the lights went out but it didn’t last very long as he tried to go round the outside of Leclerc, who was sandwiched between both Red Bulls and had no where to go which saw Perez have contact and spin round. He managed to get going again, but he went into the pits and retired from there. It’s not very good for the Mexican at all, with the speculation surrounding his seat for next season and if he will be on the grid next year…
Lando Norris what a drive from the Brit, starting 17th and he had an outstanding recovery drive to end up P5! Piastri also had an okay race, so a decent weekend for the team in total.
Ohhhh Daniel Ricciardooo, POINTS!!! After having an impressive qualifying session he managed to stick it out and battled hard to stay in the top 10 and score some all important points for the team.
The red flag was for Magnussen on lap 33, we saw the Dane spinning into the barrier at the esses, with the rear of his car on fire, forcing the stewards to stop proceedings by waving a red flag.
Looking at the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Standings. Hamilton is only 20 points away from Sergio Perez in second, with three race weekend’s left. Sainz has overtook Alonso in the Standings but they are both on 183 points. Norris is only 3 points ahead of Charles Leclerc in P7, and Russell is 15 points behind the Monegasque driver. Ricciardo moves up to 17th, his only two points behind his teammate whose in 16th and Hulkenberg 3 points ahead in 15th.
McLaren in 4th have built up a gap to Aston Martin in 5th, they will be looking to score more this weekend as its a sprint weekend so more chance for points. AlphaTauri have jumped up to 8th and are on 16 points, after Daniel Ricciardo scored well, but they have work to do as Alfa Romeo are also on 16 points in 9th and Haas are on 12 points in 10th, so its all to play for in the final 3 rounds…
We are at our second race weekend in our triple header, and it’s the home Grand Prix of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez!
Can the home hero take the win? Or will Max Verstappen show another dominating race weekend to make it victory number 16 this season?
Or, will we see the likes of Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris battle for the win also? It’s all to play for this weekend as we only have four races left of the season!
Who needs to shine?
Obviously with the news that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are disqualified after the race last weekend, both drivers will be wanting to get those points back as much as possible! Hamilton is currently fighting for P2 in the Drivers’ Championship with Perez and the 7 time World Champion will be wanting a few good results to achieve that. Whereas, Leclerc he has been jumped by Lando Norris for P6, and he has got George Russell behind him in 8th only 8 points away, so it’s very close between P4 and P8 where only 40 points separate them…
Looking at the results from last weekend, Alonso had a costly DNF he will be wanting to have a very different weekend, hoping to score some points. That will also be the same for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri aswell.
Home hero, Sergio Perez will be wanting to do well in front of the home crowd, I can expect he won’t go any less than a podium, so hopefully we get to see some good overtakes from the Mexican.
Predictions for Qualifying-
My top five predictions are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Norris, P4: Perez and P5: Russell.
The low degradation we have here at Mexico results in relatively few overtakes, as it’s hard to build a compound delta. The low degradation also means that there is a very low undercut potential.
So I don’ think we will be getting a crazy race on Sunday, we may get a little bit of drama going into Turn 1 but nothing to drastic.
The tyres have been chosen for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, where we go back to the normal race weekend format!
The compounds the team will have are: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft), this is one step softer than last years race weekend.
Graining is often seen at this track, with the cars sliding more due to the reduced aerodynamic effect and high altitude.
There is also a big difference in temperature between the start and the end of each day: which is a factor to bear in mind when analysing potential degradation rates.
Max Verstappen is the most successful driver in Mexico City, with four wins from seven participations. This also means that Red Bull has more victories than any other team in Mexico.
A one-stopper was the most popular strategy last year. Max Verstappen started on used softs and then finished the race on the mediums, ahead of Lewis Hamilton who instead started on the mediums and then finished the race on the hard tyre.
The second stop on Formula 1’s American tour takes place in Mexico City on the circuit named after Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez: the brothers who were local motorsport heroes throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The track, located on the west side of the city, is just over four kilometres long with 17 corners and it sits at more than 2000 metres of altitude. This has an important effect on car performance, with the rarefied air reducing drag and also downforce. As a result, the aero settings on the cars are similar to those used on high-downforce circuits – only with a much reduced effect on the tyres. The grip from the asphalt is also much less than average, as surface roughness is among the lowest of the entire calendar.
This year we have decided to bring the three softest compounds to Mexico – C3, C4 and C5 – after careful reflection based on last year’s information, as well as the simulations that the teams have as always supplied to us. This should lead to a wider variety of strategy choices throughout the race, opening the door to a two-stop strategy as well. Last year, when the chosen compounds were C2, C3, and C4, nearly all the drivers stopped only once, mainly using soft and medium.
Mexico also gives us the chance to try out a new variant of the C4 with all the teams. During the two hours of free practice on Friday each driver will have two sets of these new prototypes to use as they wish. Once we have analysed all the data, we will then decide whether or not to homologate this version for use in 2024.
Round 20 is now complete, and it’s definitely safe to say that it wasn’t the most exciting race this season however a special record got broken after 9 years!
Max Verstappen wins the 2022 Mexico Grand Prix, making it 14 race wins in a season passing Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel! Lewis Hamilton comes home in 2nd and Sergio Perez rounds out the podium – the exact same podium as the 2021 Grand Prix.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Perez, P4: Russell, P5: Sainz, P6: Leclerc, P7: Ricciardo, P8: Ocon, P9: Norris and P10: Bottas.
What a day for the World Champion, we all know Max isn’t really one for records but this one I think feels a bit different for the Dutchman as the last person who equalled the record (Sebastian Vettel) was with Red Bull when he accomplished this! Not only this Max Verstappen has scored the most points in a season with two races to go!
A great day for the Silver Arrows, they’re getting closer and closer to that win but will it be too late with only two races left? With Hamilton finishing 2nd and Sainz finishing 5th, Hamilton now sits in-front of Sainz in the Driver standings.
A good race for McLaren with both drivers scoring points, even though Daniel got a 10 second time penalty for his collision with Yuki Tsunoda, he drove his heart out and managed to build up a big enough gap between himself and Esteban and stay in the same place!
On the other hand for Alpine, it wasn’t the best of days for them, Alonso DNF’ing to an engine problem during the race and Ocon not doing as much as expected… It definitely brings McLaren back into contention for the fight for fourth in the Constructors.
Not much can be said about Ferrari, the whole weekend they were off the pace or having problems with the car, it may be because we were in Mexico and we were quite high up, hopefully we see them bounce back in Brazil and they will hope so too as Mercedes are now only 40 points behind them in the Constructors.
We are back racing in just under two weeks for round 21, where the Sprint returns in Brazil which could shake a few things up for the drivers…
Qualifying is complete for the Mexico Grand Prix and it was a close call, as one team gets closer to the top team and another aren’t as close as previous weekends.
It was Max Verstappen who took pole position, with George Russell lining up on the front row in P2, and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the top 3!!
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Russell, P3: Hamilton, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Bottas, P7: Leclerc, P8: Norris, P9: Alonso and P10: Ocon.
A great qualifying result for Mercedes – there best this season and they have a great shot at the win tomorrow. We all know what they say about starting 3rd here in Mexico, even 2nd might be worth it, but the most important thing is that long run down to turn 1.
A great qualifying for Bottas, splitting the two Ferrari’s. He will be hoping for a good points finish, as he hasn’t scored since Canada!
Only two drivers have penalties for tomorrow’s race those being Lance Stroll for causing a collision at the previous round and Magnussen 5 places for use of additional power unit elements.
Predictions-
My top five predictions for the race are – P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Russell and P5: Sainz.
Going off the fact that for quite a few years now the person who takes pole position doesn’t win the race here… We saw last year Max starting P3 and he took the lead at Turn 1 so it could be a repeat again…
Formula 2 racer, Jack Doohan will be making his Formula 1 race weekend debut at the Mexico City Grand Prix when he drives for Alpine in the opening practice.
Doohan, is part of Alpine’s Driver Academy, will tackle the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Esteban Ocon’s car. As well as this he will get a second outing in FP1 in the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.
Mexico will be the second time the 19 year old has sampled 2022-spec machinery, having completed the permitted 100km of running on demonstration tyres during the teams filming day at Monza last month.
Doohan, son of five time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick, has also tested last year’s Alpine this season through test days in Qatar in May, Monza in June and Budapest in September.
The Australian, is currently fourth in his debut season in F2, having stepped up a class after finishing second in F3 in 2021. He has won three races this season, plus scored three further podiums and three pole positions and is in the hunt to claim third in the standings.
Doohan is Alpine’s most high-profile junior driver following the departure of F2 champion Oscar Piastri who will be making his F1 race debut alongside Lando Norris at McLaren next year.
I’m extremely grateful to Alpine for giving me this opportunity to drive in Free Practice in Mexico. It’s always a huge honour to be entrusted to drive a Formula 1 car, so to have the opportunity on a Grand Prix weekend is very special. Ultimately, the aim is to be doing this every week and this experience is another step closer to achieving that goal. I’ve prepared as best as I can, and I think it’s going to be very exciting to experience the car at this type of circuit with the high altitude and very high top speed. I’ll work hard on the day, do everything the team sets out and, at the same time, enjoy the moment as I know it’s going to be a unique opportunity.
Jack Doohan on FP1 sessions.
We are very pleased to announce Jack will join the team in Mexico and take over driving duties for Free Practice 1. We have all been impressed with Jack’s progression across many areas this season and he’s deserving of this chance as we continue to nurture his high potential. It’s important to give our young drivers opportunities to test Formula 1 cars and our Academy programme has proven to be successful in doing just that. We expect Jack to work hard during the session and take as much as he can from the experience of being involved in a Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend.
As was the case last weekend, the C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft), has been chosen for the Mexican Grand Prix weekend.
Mexico is the highest event on the F1 Calendar, at more than 2200 metres above sea level. The thin air affects engines as well as aerodynamics, generating less downforce at lower speeds especially. With this year’s ground effect floors, its going to be interesting to note the impact on downforce compared to previous years.
During the day in Mexico, there’s quite a lot of temperature variation, even in the space of a few hours, which affects thermal degradation an important parameter that the teams will need to monitor.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is the ‘contingency plan’ to replace the cancelled 2023 tyre test planned for the Japanese Grand Prix. The FP2 session in Mexico will run for 90 minutes to assess the softer slick compounds for next year, while in Austin the harder prototypes were run.
If a team uses a young driver for FP1, t is allowed to run its own programme for the first part of FP2 before concentrating on the tyre test, for the remainder of the session.
Over the course of a season, our tyres have to cope with a wide variety of conditions depending on the individual characteristics of each venue. If you look back at the last two races, Suzuka was all about lateral forces and Austin was well-balanced aerodynamically, but Mexico this weekend focuses on traction and braking. The Hermanos Rodriguez circuit does not offer a lot of grip and the energy demands on the tyres are reasonably low, as the cars do not generate much downforce in the thin air at high altitude, especially in slow corners. This year, the circuit might be more front-limited, as the current generation of car tends to understeer through slow corners – which Mexico has plenty of – and this can lead to some sliding on the front tyres. Due to the nature of the venue the circuit tends to feature a dusty surface with plenty of track evolution. Understanding this and getting the tyre warm-up exactly right is likely to be the key to success.”
Mario Isla, Motorsport Director
It’s race week, as @F1 heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the #MexicoGP, where the high altitude of the venue adds to the technical challenge of the layout 🇲🇽
The tyres for this weekends Grand Prix has been announced, just like Qatar no-one has any data from previous years, but this track is a little different to Qatar as this circuit has only just been built!
The three compounds which have been chosen are: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft), this is the most common selection which has been picked this year.
Jeddah and Qatar are two very different circuits, both new to the F1 calendar, but the teams knew the Qatar circuit would put stress on the Pirelli tyres during the race. With only the simulations from the teams for Jeddah it is suggested that the middle compounds in the range are the best, it should be well suited to the fast and flowing street race with over 50 laps on Sunday.
The Track-
The track itself has been designed by well known circuit architect Hermann Tilke, he has designed circuits such as Bahrain International Circuit, Istanbul Park Racing Circuit, Shanghai International Circuit, Yas Marina Circuit and the Circuit of the Americas.
The track is a 6.174-kilometre track, its the longest street circuit on the calendar and the second longest of the year after Spa. It is also set to be one of the fastest with an average speed of 250kph, that is only just behind the Temple of Speed.
Now onto the most demanding turns, is Turn 13 a left hander which features a 12 degree banking that should place high g forces on the tyres. Jeddah has a total of 27 corners which will keep the tyres working hard throughout the race.
The track looks quite unforgiving in the sense that parts of the track are quite narrow and the walls close to the side of the track which could lead to a high possibility of seeing the safety car during the race which will affect teams strategy.
As its a new track, the track itself will be quite slippery to start off with on Friday but with Formula 2 and a Porsche competition throughout the weekend this will help with track evolution.
We also have Formula 2 this weekend, the tyres which have been chosen is the Medium and Super soft compound, which is the most common combination picked this year.
Well, we have had another drama filled weekend, with Vertsappen being handed a 5 place grid penalty before the race as well as Bottas being handed a 3 place grid penalty.
Our top 3 finishers for the first Qatar GP were: P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen and P3: Alonso. Hamilton made it win 102 this weekend and being the first to ever win at Qatar in F1. But the main talking news is Alonso returning to the podium after 7 years and he fully deserves it!
DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 21: Third placed Fernando Alonso of Spain and Alpine F1 Team celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 21, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: ALonso, P4: Perez, P5: Ocon, P6: Stroll, P7: Sainz, P8: Leclerc, P9: Norris and P10: Vettel. With fastest lap going to Verstappen.
On lap 33, it saw Bottas have a puncture as he fell from P3, he managed to get it back to the pits and comes out in P14. Which brings us to lap 54… Where we saw Norris who was in P4 have a puncture, Russell with a puncture and his team-mate Latifi, with the same problem. Norris and Russell managed to pit for new tyres however, Latifi couldn’t make it back to the pits so had to park near an entrance road which brought out a VSC!
Amazing race for both Alpines! Obviously the main one being Fernando getting P3, this will help Alpine in the Constructor fight. Esteban done a really good drive too, which saw him start P9 and finish P5, good amount of points for him!
Gutting day for McLaren, Lando had such a good qualifying and obviously with the two penalties he moved up to the second row. It looked like he secured P4 near the end of the race and then the puncture happened… He hasn’t had it easy the past few races, but i’m hoping he will take away the fact the car is good and has got pace and hopefully he has a clear head going into Saudi!
Not quite sure what went on with Alpha Tauri, baring in mind Pierre started P2, they pitted him very early compared to everyone else and from then on he was no where, he finished 11th. Tsunoda finished P13, it looked quite promising for him to score points but obviously it didn’t go either Alpha Tauri’s way this weekend.
The Championship-
The gap just keeps on coming down now, 8 points between Verstappen and Hamilton. Making it an all very important two races left. Bottas’ P3 is under threat as Perez is only 13 points away, so that DNF for the Merc did not help at all!
Norris just holds on to P5 with 153 points, with Charles Leclerc in P6 with 152 points, so it will be interesting battle between these two in the final two rounds.
In the Constructors there is only a 5 point gap between Mercedes and Red Bull now, even more so now the fastest lap points are definitely going to come into play and there will be a lot of switching on who has it.
Alpine now have a 25 point gap between them and Alpha Tauri. So AT really need both cars scoring good points in these next two if they want to try and get 5th back!
Now we don’t have any racing next weekend but we will be back from the 3rd to 5th December and we will be in Saudi Arabia for the first ever Grand Prix there and go into round 21 out of 22.
Welll… Qualifying most definitely had some shock exits! Making this championship even more exciting…
Lewis Hamilton, takes the first pole position on the Losail Circuit, carrying on his form from last weekend in Brazil! Max Verstappen joins Lewis on the front row and Bottas makes P3, showing that Mercedes are on top form!
The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Gasly, P5: Alonso, P6: Norris, P7: Sainz, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon, P10: Vettel.
DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 20: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL35M Mercedes during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 20, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Red Bull are most definitely on the back foot here, with both Mercedes sandwiching Max it could easily be a preview of the podium.
Talking about RB and them being on the back foot, part of that is because Perez was out in Q2! Not a good weekend so far for him, it’ll be interesting to see what the strategy is for Red Bull considering no-one knows how this race is going to go.
Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo also out in Q2, which most definitely shocked a few people. Leclerc has been having problems since yesterday, but it just seems like he isn’t comfortable in the car on this track.
Russell into Q2, Mr Saturday is back, starting P15, which means free choice of tyres and could potentially score some points tomorrow.
Both Alpha Tauri’s and Alpine in the top 10, the battles between the four cars will be interesting, especially with Alonso he always provides good and clean fights on track and Pierre being so consistent this year, who won’t give up a position.
Predictions for tomorrow-
I’m going to say for my top 5 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Sainz.
Tomorrow should be an exciting race, no-one knows whether it’s going to be a 1 stop or 2 stop so I can imagine teams will be keeping an eye out for tyre degradation.
This weekend we are in Qatar for the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix, coming into this weekend, its an unknown track to all the teams, so they will be all starting off on the same foot.
Going into the final 3 races now the championship is hotting up, with only 14 point seperating Max and Lewis, could we see that gap come down again? Its all to play for!
Who needs a good weekend?
McLaren again need a good weekend, two races not scoring points for Ricciardo, and Norris only scoring two points in the last two races. At this moment in time McLaren are just giving P3 to Ferrari, but hopefully with a new track there luck will change this weekend.
Going in to the final 3 races, the second drivers will come into play which we saw last weekend, where Red Bull pitted Perez to take the fastest lap point away from Lewis and Mercedes. So Bottas and Perez will be putting there all in for the next 3 races so they can help their team-mates win the Championship, and their teams the Constructors.
I think Lance needs a good weekend, I feel like his struggling with the car the last few races, the last time he scored points was in Turkey. His currently sat in 13th in the Championship, with his team mate sat in 12th, but the points difference between the two is quite big.
Predictions for Qualifying-
My top five predictions are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Norris.
Hopefully, we will see both the McLaren’s in top 10 they need a good start to the weekend, and that would be it, it would also give both drivers the confidence too.
Maybe a Q3 for Yuki? New track for him as the same for everyone else, but he feels good going into this weekend and he wants to show some people wrong after the last couple of weeks.
The tyres for this weekend in Qatar have been chosen which are the following: C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft), this is the fifth and last time this year that the hardest of all the compounds in the range have been nominated.
With it being out first ever time here, we have no data from previous years which would normally help in picking the tyres. The circuit has very demanding corners similar to both Silverstone and Mugello, it also has quite aggressive asphalt.
The start/finish straight is just over a kilometre long, but also has 16 quick corners to make up the rest of the lap this will ensure that tyres will be working hard and could possibly lead to a reasonably high degradation. The track has still got its original surface from 2004 which offers high grip, but with the track being near the dessert the grass around the circuit doesn’t always keep the sand off the track, which could make it dusty and affect grip.
Turns 12 to 14 form a triple apex right-hander which makes up almost a single high-energy 5.2g corner that is slightly reminiscent of the famous Turn 8 in Turkey- only in the opposite direction.
Qatar is one of four races held in the evening under floodlights. This could means that the evloution of track temperature of the race could be quite different compared to a normal afternoon race.
There is no support races this weekend, and the circuit hasn’t been used a lot recently which will mean that there is no rubber laid down prior to the F1 cars. SO expect the drivers slipping around at first, the only way we will see this again is if sand blows onto the track which resets itself.
We finally have confirmation on which track will be filling in for Australia this year and that is Qatar…
Qatar is set to make an appearance on the weekend of the 19th of November, making it its first ever F1 Grand Prix!
The Qatari circuit is most famous for its association with two wheel racing, with it having hosted the Moto GP since 2004.
The race is the last of the triple header, with Mexico and Brazil before hand, it should be an exciting weekend considering no-one has raced there so it could go either way!
It also got announced that Qatar will permanently be on our race calendar from 2023 for 10 years!
A statement from F1 said: “There was a strong will from Qatar to be helpful to F1, and in the course of this process, the vision for a longer partnership was discussed and agreed for 10 years. The step from the gesture to be helpful to F1 in 2021 to a long term strategy was short and simple and the vision for F1 to be the showcase for Qatar after the FIFA World Cup in 2022 was the driving force behind this long term agreement.”
Jordan's Track Talk 