Hermanos Rodríguez

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez lies in the south-east of Mexico City, inside the public park of the Magdalena Mixhuca sports city. The student Óscar Fernández designed the track in 1953 as his thesis, and it was built in 1959. It used to be known as the Autódromo Magdalena Mixhuca. Since 1979 it has carried the names of the brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez: Ricardo died in practice for a non-championship Formula One race in 1962, and Pedro died at the wheel nine years later.

Formula One first raced here in 1962 in an event that did not count towards the world championship, and the first championship round followed in 1963. The Mexican Grand Prix stayed on the calendar until 1970, when the lap was around five kilometres long. That spell ended because overcrowding among spectators had made conditions unsafe. Formula One came back in 1986 with a new pit complex and better safety, and the lap now measured 4.421 kilometres. After 1992 the race dropped off the calendar again because of safety concerns. Racing resumed in 2015, with 2020 the only year without a race, and the Mexican Grand Prix is on the 2026 calendar.

At 2,238 metres above sea level, the circuit is demanding for drivers and cars. The thin air reduces drag, so teams can run high-downforce set-ups without losing much top speed. The lap runs clockwise and has 17 corners. The fast, slightly banked Peraltada leads onto a 1.2 kilometre start/finish straight. After 1992 a baseball stadium was built inside the infield of this corner. For the 2015 return Hermann Tilke reworked the track: the straight was extended and reprofiled to make room for a media centre and paddock, the esses between turns 7 and 13 were altered, and in the stadium section a slow left-right combination bypasses the first half of the Peraltada. At 4.304 kilometres the lap is shorter than before. Since 2015 the final corner has been named after Nigel Mansell, who won here in 1987 and 1992.