Lights OutMediaThis is round 19 of 23, and F1 arrives in Mexico City right after Austin. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is one of the most distinctive tracks on the calendar.
It’s 4.304 km with 17 turns, and the race is 71 laps, about 305.6 km. The track was built in 1959, and the current layout largely follows the original. Bottas still holds the lap record at 1:17.774 from 2021.
A lap starts with the long run into Turn 1 and the heavy braking there. Then the cars go through the esses in the middle of the lap. It finishes with the stadium section and the final corner, Turn 17, the Peraltada, which is slightly banked and very fast.
The stadium is Foro Sol, now known as Estadio GNP Seguros. The final sector runs through it and the podium is inside it. That’s not the only thing that sets this track apart. It’s more than 2,200 meters above sea level, and the thin air means less downforce. Even with teams running their high-downforce setups here, last year’s top speed was 226 mph.
Here’s when to watch, all times Eastern. Free Practice 1 is Friday at 2:30 pm and Free Practice 2 is Friday at 6:00 pm. Free Practice 3 is Saturday at 1:30 pm, and qualifying is Saturday at 5:00 pm. The race is Sunday at 3:00 pm, and US clocks go back that morning. After this, F1 heads to São Paulo on November 6 to 8.