- Mexican Grand Prix is round 20 of 2024 F1 season
- Race held at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
- Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso celebrates 400th start
The 2024 Formula 1 World Championship continues this weekend with round 20, the Mexican Grand Prix, taking place at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
The race is the second of an American triple header that started with the United States Grand Prix and will conclude with the Brazilian Grand Prix, and it will be the 400th start for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
The two-time world champion, who turned 43 this year, is competing in his 21st F1 season and isn’t planning to quit anytime soon. In April, he signed a new multi-year contract with Aston Martin, which means next season, when he turns 44, he will have spent half his life racing in F1.
Alonso made his debut in 2001 and won his world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. When he started racing, some of the current drivers weren’t born yet. And during that debut season in 2001, Alonso raced again Jean Alesi, who made his own debut in 1989. It means that there is a still a driver on the grid who raced against a driver that was active in F1 in the 1980s.
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Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, home of the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix
This weekend’s Mexican race, officially the Mexico City Grand Prix, runs on a short 2.7-mile circuit that lies at an altitude of close to 7,500 feet. The thinner air density makes the engines work harder (oxygen levels are 78% of what they are at sea level), and generating sufficient cooling and downforce are also more of a challenge. Top speeds are among the highest of the season due to the low air density, with cars typically exceeding 217 mph.
The current layout consists of a long straight, a mixed middle sector, and a final section featuring the famous Peraltada, much modified today from its past as a parabolic corner reminiscent of the one at Monza. The layout is also noted for having the longest distance from the starting line to the braking point for the first corner, at 2,660 feet.
There’s quite a lot of temperature variation during the day in Mexico, even in the space of a few hours, which affects grip levels from the tires. Pirelli has nominated its softest combination of C3, C4, and C5 compounds for the weekend. During a practice session on Friday, teams will also have a prototype compound for the 2025 season to test.
Going into Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen leads the 2024 Drivers’ Championship with 354 points. McLaren’s Lando Norris is second with 297 points, followed in third by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with 275 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren leads with 544 points. Red Bull is second with 504 points and Ferrari is third with 496 points. Last year’s winner in Mexico was Verstappen, driving for Red Bull.