Mexican GP: Let’s talk atmosphere
The air is thin in Mexico City. It’s almost a mile-and-a-half above sea level or, in a different currency, almost as tall as Snowdon if Snowdon was stacked on top of Ben Nevis.
Engines could get a bit wheezy up at this height, so the turbos have to work a bit harder to feed those modest cylinders with all the air they need.
But that’s only part of the story when it comes to atmosphere in Mexico City, as those lucky enough to be there for this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix will find out…
Having a masked ball
For the F1 visitor, Mexico City offers a unique set of experiences. The international airport is less than three miles from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which itself is very much part of the urban landscape.
And it’s quite a city. Surrounded by mountains and the odd volcano, what looks like a grubby sprawl of concrete as you fly in is, in reality, a microcosm of Mexican history and culture, albeit a microcosm with 21.5million residents – more than New York City.
Because the circuit is so close to the city centre, the savvy F1 visitor can stay almost within earshot of the race and still be minutes away from all the other tourist stuff.
Get yourself tickets to one of the two main wrestling arenas, grab some beers, some Mexican snacks and some wrestling masks (that’s Felipe Massa with his mask, pictured) – there are sellers of all these wonderful things walking between the seats – and soak up some of the finest wrestling theatre in the world.
If you’ve come only for the motor racing, however, fear not – the local F1 fans are as enthusiastic as any wrestling crowd and there are a lot of them.
When F1 returned here last year, 335,850 people attended over the three-day race weekend.
You want a contrast? Just last weekend, organisers of the US Grand Prix were hailing a record three-day attendance of 269,889 – and that doubtless included a bunch of Texans who’d bought a ticket so they could see Taylor Swift do her stuff.
Mexico loves its F1, Mexico knows its F1 and Mexico cheers its F1 heroes as loudly as any group of fans you care to mention.
That’s why, even if the racing is as disappointing as it was last year, it’s still an unforgettable Grand Prix experience.
Now, about the racing…
Dear Mexico, thank you. Love, Mercedes
I could spin this out a bit but, truth be told, it will be jaw-dropping if Mercedes power units don’t dominate this weekend.
In the rarefied atmosphere 2.25km up in the sky, Mercedes’ ability to extract maximum grunt from the thin air should be an advantage not just to the factory team, but the Merc customers too.
This could make the midfield battle between Force India and Williams particularly mouth-watering.
With only eight points between them in the Constructors’ Championship, they are battling for a fourth place that will be worth a ton of money to whoever comes out on top.
Whether their Mercedes power allows them to pressure the lacklustre Ferrari outfit remains to be seen but it certainly should help Sergio Perez put in a strong performance in front of his home crowd.
His Force India is fast on straights at the best of times and, if crowd power counts for anything, he’ll be well in the points.
Last year he was the only one-stopper, and finished a creditable eighth. A combination of the track being more abrasive this year – growing a year older does that to a new surface – and Pirelli choosing a slightly softer set of tyre options suggests even Perez will have to stop twice, and plenty of teams will be crunching the numbers on three-stoppers.
Autódromo Speedy Gonzales
Watch those fastest laps this weekend. The thin air produces less drag (and less downforce), and turbo engines (particularly the Merc units) cope far more effectively at altitude than normally aspirated units.
In fact, Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe says the hybrid engines can deliver their normal levels of power, even though atmospheric pressure is 20 per cent lower than at most other circuits.
The start-finish straight is three-quarters of a mile long – that’s plenty long for record-challenging speeds to be reached.
Kimi Raikkonen holds the all-time record, with 229.969mph, and last season’s top speeds were around 227mph. This year’s cars are quicker…
The only thing that might hamper record breaking is gear ratios – if top gear isn’t long enough – but Williams have already unofficially broken the Raikkonen record this year.
At the European Grand Prix in Baku, Valtteri Bottas was clocked doing 227.484mph across the start-finish line. But Williams’ telemetry showed he kept accelerating and hit 234mph.
Lewis v Nico
We know championship chaser Lewis Hamilton has to win and leader Nico Rosberg has to avoid any costly mistakes (though if they take each other out, of course, it’s advantage Nico).
Last year, Rosberg was on top in both qualifying and the race, but that was after Hamilton had taken his foot off the metaphorical gas, having already clinched the title. So there’s precious little insight to be gleaned from that.
Last week, both drivers seemed under control – Hamilton drove confidently at the front, while Rosberg played the long game and finished where he needed to, second, thanks in part to the timing of a virtual safety car.
Again, not much to be gleaned. We really need Rosberg to have a glitch of some sort to set the race alight at the front.
Is that likely? Well, cooling is an issue in the thin air and Rosberg’s brakes got a little cooked last year. The high top speeds add to brake problems.
But it’s unlikely Mercedes will be running a risky brake set-up – they don’t need to take those sort of risks (they can leave that to brake-busters extraordinaire Haas; their drivers will be having a squeaky-bum weekend).
However, even with a conservative brake set-up (and Mercedes’ tyre selections also look conservative) the cars are effectively running with Monza-level downforce (low) but having to negotiate far more corners than in Italy. It is tough on the machinery and challenging for the drivers, so hiccups are not out of the question.
If Rosberg plays a blinder and Hamilton has a horror, the German could take the title this Sunday so, from a neutral perspective, it would be a good time for him to have a touch of bad luck.
Of course, the best (somewhat unlikely) result from a neutral perspective would be local hero Perez on the podium – it’s a cracking podium set-up here and, given the right circumstances, the Mexico City F1 fans could give their wrestling fans a run for their money.
One day, Mexico, one day.