Next stop: the Mexican Grand prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez – no time for a siesta. If you sleep, you miss the hardest braking point before corner one. Brembo fact: the driver has to slow down from 263 km/h in just 3.29 seconds on 72 meters. 2154 kW of power are being generated here, whilst 4.0g are affecting the driver. He has to step on the brake with 117 kg for this.
Circuit notes
T1: A heavy braking zone after the long straight. Infrequent circuit usage means the surface could be slippery, especially if wet.
T3: Exit is important here as it leads to a short straight of over 600m, or 7secs flat out.
T4: Another big stop. The turn in speed for this will be around 95kph and rear stability is important.
T7: The start of a flowing complex where the driver will be dancing on the throttle as he negotiates a series of esses similar to Suzuka’s famous section. With a speed ranging between 240kph and 120kph, the driver will not touch the brakes through this section, instead applying more or less pedal travel.
T12: The last corner, now known as Mansell after the famous tussle between Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell in 1990. The previous incarnation (known as Peraltada) was a banked, oval bend that was taken at close to 300kph, but is now a twisty complex with an average of 130kph.
T16 to T1: The long back straight sees the highest speeds of the year owing to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez’ high altitude. Located at over 2,200 metres, the air is less dense. This means less downforce, but much higher speeds as the cars carve through the thinner air. Speeds will peak at over 360kph.
Power Unit notes
- The Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez is a medium to high speed track. The average speed is around 190kph, comparable to the previous event in Austin.
- The top speed is very high, increased by the high altitude of Mexico City: at altitude the air is thinner and there is less resistance to the car. To give grip in the corners, cars will run similar downforce levels to Budapest and Singapore, but the downforce level produced will be less than Monza.
- At an altitude in excess of 2,200m – or just under half the height of Mont Blanc – the circuit is by far the highest point of the season. By comparison, Sao Paulo is just 800m. In the normally aspirated era this would have meant a power output some 22% less than normal, but a turbocharged engine will produce the same power as a sea-level event such as Abu Dhabi. To do this, the turbo spins at a higher rate to input more oxygen into the ICE. To compare: the turbo will spin some 8% more in Mexico than in Abu Dhabi.
- Fuel consumption over one lap is quite low so energy recovery is less critical in Mexico than at other circuits.
