Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

How it began

The circuit was built in 1959 in Magdalena Mixhuca park in the east of Mexico City. It is named after the brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez, the first Mexicans in Formula 1. Ricardo was killed at this track on 1 November 1962, in practice for the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix; Pedro died in a crash in Germany in 1971.

The Mexican Grand Prix joined the World Championship in 1963: Jim Clark won the first race for Lotus on 27 October 1963. The round was held from 1963 to 1970, then from 1986 to 1992, and after a long break it returned in 2015. Since 2021 it has been called the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The track

The track sits more than 2,200 metres above sea level, higher than any other on the calendar. The thin air produces less downforce and does a poorer job of cooling engines and brakes, so teams bring their biggest wings here, and yet straight-line speeds are still among the highest of the season.

For the return in 2015 the lap was rebuilt to a design by Hermann Tilke: 4.304 km long, with seventeen corners. The famous banked Peraltada corner was almost entirely replaced by a slow section through a baseball stadium, where the grandstands come right up to the track.

Memorable races

In 1964 the race decided the title: John Surtees became champion by finishing second after Jim Clark’s engine failed in the closing laps. In 1970 spectators sat right at the edge of the track, the race went ahead anyway, and afterwards the round dropped off the calendar for fifteen years.

On 12 October 1986 Gerhard Berger took the first win of his career, which was also Benetton’s first. On 1 November 2015 the championship returned to Mexico City; Nico Rosberg won for Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton clinched the title here with races to spare two years running — on 29 October 2017 and on 28 October 2018 — while Max Verstappen won both races. On 27 October 2024 Carlos Sainz won for Ferrari.

The 2026 season

The 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix is scheduled for 1 November, a week after Austin. The season runs under the new rules: new power units with about half of their power coming from electricity, active aerodynamics and eleven teams — Cadillac joins the championship, and Sauber is taken over by Audi.