October 27, 2023
 |
| via formula1.com |
The second part of our triple header takes us to the fun and fanfare of Mexico City. I love this venue because F1 adopts the Mariachi band version of its theme song and it is just so good. I genuinely think they should just ditch the regular version and keep the Mariachi band year round. Anyway, enough of my rambling, here is everything you need to know for the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 10/27, 02:30-03:30 PM
Practice 2: Friday 10/27, 06:00-07:00 PM
Practice 3: Saturday 10/28, 01:30-02:30 PM
Qualifying: Saturday 10/28, 05:00-06:00 PM
Race: Sunday 10/29, 04:00 PM
 |
| Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez via formula1.com |
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez poses one of the race calendar’s most unique challenges: altitude. Since the track is located roughly 2 kilometers above sea level, the air is thinner and affects nearly every aspect of the race. Teams use maximum downforce setups – which are usually reserved for slow and twisty venues like Monaco – because less downforce is generated at this track, reducing tire grip. The low air density also leads to less drag for the cars, increasing top speeds, and reducing the effect of DRS and slipstream. This makes overtaking quite difficult, despite the wide nature of the track. Cooling and turbo systems also end up working overtime in Mexico, as the unique conditions place extra stress on them.
Altitude is not the only challenge though; the circuit in itself is actually quite tricky. First, the lack of oxygen in the air makes the race highly physical for drivers. On top of that, they face a quick first sector with two long straights, an extremely twisty second sector filled with turns, and the stadium section of the third sector. This section is actually quite cool, as drivers take the Peralta corner (Jake, is that you?) to enter the old Foro Sol baseball stadium. They drive around what used to be the diamond, and past a huge grandstand filled with roaring fans. It really is a sight to see.
With so many technicalities coming into play, Mexico does not host a Sprint weekend. This means that teams will have the usual three practice sessions to properly test the upgrades they introduced in Austin, and find the perfect setup for the race. Five teams are taking this extra time to give their junior or reserve drivers a chance to drive the cars in FP1. Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan, who has already driven the car quite a few times, will take the A523 for another spin. The rest of the drivers will be making their FP1 debuts, with F2 championship rivals, Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti driving for Alfa Romeo and Mercedes, respectively. Isack Hadjar will take the wheel of Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri for the first time, and Ollie Bearman (or as I like to call him, Jolly) will drive Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. Bearman will be keen to impress the team as they are currently looking for a new reserve driver for next season.
 |
| Ollie (Jolly) Bearman after winning the F2 feature race in Baku motorsportweek.com |
Now, for the teams:
The Mexican crowd will be throwing their full support behind hometown hero Sergio Perez. Although he has been in a slump all season, the Mexican’s performance has improved recently. Having finished P4 in Texas, a home race might be just what Perez needs to finish the season on a high note. A bonus to Perez’s home race is that his dad will be there too, and we all absolutely adore Papa Perez.
 |
| I will always and forever have so much love for this photo From left to right: Lewis Hamilton's dad, Sergio Perez's dad, Tom Cruise essentiallysports.com |
If it weren’t for Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the US Grand Prix, Mercedes would have pulled away from Ferrari in the battle for second in the Constructors Championship. Since it was Hamilton and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc who were disqualified, I have a feeling the FIA chose to evaluate this particular rule to keep the battle alive. The drivers’ disqualifications bumped Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz up to P3, meaning Ferrari outscored Mercedes last weekend and closed the gap to just 22 points. With such a close fight set up as we head into the final four races of the season, it seems awfully coincidental that a Mercedes and Ferrari driver were both affected by the same peculiar penalty on an otherwise pivotal weekend of the season.
Both, McLaren and Aston Martin struggled in Texas; Aston just struggled more. Despite having suffered brake issues throughout the weekend and retiring one car in the Sprint and one in the Race, the team can actually take some valuable information from the weekend. They seemed to have figured out their upgrades by Sunday, as the changes they made Saturday night helped both drivers make recovery drives from the pit lane to the points. I think the upgrades may be helpful but unreliable at the moment because the team doesn’t fully understand them. Nevertheless, Aston Martin’s meager 6 points over the course of the weekend was not enough to stay ahead of McLaren in the Constructors Championship. Lando Norris’ fourth consecutive podium and P4 in the Sprint race pushed the papaya team ahead by 6 points. Still, the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri struggled to find pace throughout the weekend and ended up retiring from the race due to damage he sustained on Lap 1. It will be interesting to watch these two teams as they battle for P4 in the championship at these last few races.
I have said it previously in the season, but since there are now six top teams who expect to be fighting for points every race, and only ten points-paying positions, there isn’t really much room for the remaining four teams to move in the championship. The bottom three teams – Alfa Romeo in P8, Haas in P9, and AlphaTauri in P10 – are covered by a total of 6 points, and because they hardly have the opportunity to score points, the positions aren’t really changing. These teams, however, have seen major improvement in performance in recent races, so perhaps we will see another Yuki Tsunoda fastest lap this weekend!
That is all for now. This weekend should be spec-taco-lar, and it may be even better if Lando Norris finally gets his first win. I am going to say this before each of these last four races because six podiums in one season doesn’t cut it anymore. Lando is going to secure that first win this season, I can feel it in my bones.
I will be back after the race, hopefully having a fiesta because Lando won!
Happy Race Weekend!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/formula1/articles/mexico-city-grand-prix-2023-preview
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2023/mexico-city-grand-prix/guide-to-mexico-city/
https://www.haasf1team.com/news/mexico-city-grand-prix-preview-1
https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/races/2023-mexico-city-gp