New onboard footage gives the best impression yet of how the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will look when it hosts the first Mexican Grand Prix for 23 years next month.
Every corner on the Mexico City track has been revised to bring it up to modern safety standards. The track last held a round of the world championship in 1992.
The track is being revised for the second time since it was first used for F1 in 1963. The new version measures 4.438 kilometres, 17 metres longer than the previous version. Its long start/finish straight is expected to make it one of the fastest venues currently in use.
The video shows the track surface has been laid and work is continuing to complete the rest of the circuit’s makeover.
Pete
14th October 2015, 15:01
Nice track……. Love the massive stands everywhere, but i fear those stands are going to look empty come race day most other tracks.
Mijail (@mijail)
14th October 2015, 15:11
I doubt so, the first tickets released flew in less than a day and they had to add some new stands so they could keep selling tickets.
Josue
14th October 2015, 15:22
Then again, you never know how many of those tickets were bought by re-sellers, which in turn may not find buyers come race day.
Besides, Ticketmaster now shows plenty of availability despite everything supposedly getting sold out pretty quick. I didn’t know that they added new stands though, I thought the increased availability was just because Ticketmaster works in mysterious ways.
It definitely won’t be empty, but who knows just how much attendance there will be.
Jorge Olivier
14th October 2015, 20:53
Most tickets were originally sold to re-sellers, buying from Ticketmaster was almost impossible some time ago, definitively they weren’t sold out the first day, not to the public at least.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez’s Facebook page also shows a suspicious amount of people trying to sell their ticket because they “can’t attend”.
Fast
15th October 2015, 10:07
Re-sellers and marketers, who then packaged the tickets up with extras like dinners with past drivers and made them very expensive. At least the promoter ‘sold-out’.
Illusive (@illusive)
14th October 2015, 15:19
On the contrary its going to be big, even their president is following F1 with the recent congratulatory message for Checo on twitter.
dubsix (@dubsix)
14th October 2015, 19:48
No they are sold out.. Mexico is a country of race and sports fans.. they will pack the stadiums and be crazy loud as always!
Apex Assassin
16th October 2015, 16:00
Looks as boring as Sochi to me.
ARD
14th October 2015, 15:23
Wow! Looks quite old-school, solid walls near the track, not much run off, real curbs, grass on the side. Very exciting!
Mike
14th October 2015, 16:43
It’s exciting but also dangerous. Not sure how I feel about that.
Harry Curtis (@baz888)
14th October 2015, 22:20
Oh come on, please! How boring are you! Who wants to see boring new tracks with masses of run off, as a fan, I want to see challenging circuits, and I think this one actually looks good.
Paulo Ruiz (@omegadetra)
14th October 2015, 23:15
There’s a line between challenging and safe that needs to be treaded carefully, though. We’ve seen numerous incidents this past year or so that have reminded race fans the importance of safety. Run off isn’t there to be boring – it’s supposed to make it easier to stop a car spinning out of control.
I too want to see challenging circuits, but that doesn’t have to be accomplished by making things more dangerous. As a fan, I’d like the drivers to be on the limit, but I also want them to be safe.
petebaldwin (@)
15th October 2015, 0:02
I agree but it’s no worse than Canada. Drivers won’t push the limits as much with grass and walls so I think it’s still relatively safe.
ARD
15th October 2015, 7:49
Quote: “Every corner on the Mexico City track has been revised to bring it up to modern safety standards.”
Why do lots of other (newly build) circuits have these airplane landing strips run off areas then? It also makes the speed of the cars look less impressive. Above on-board lap is far from top speed, but it already looks fast.
Dave (@)
15th October 2015, 14:35
Bikes
Wesley (@)
14th October 2015, 23:27
What does it take to drive this circuit? Please allow me to quote my F1 hero James Hunt…..”Big balls”
naz3012 (@naz3012)
14th October 2015, 18:03
Looks like a proper “traditional” american street circuit with concrete walls close and the stands towering over. The stadium section is a travesty though, so many people are going to buy tickets for those stadium seats and see F1 cars trundling through there looking like 5 year olds on a bicycle. The section after the second straight is also woefully narrow, but all in all, looks a great track to drive.
glynh (@glynh)
14th October 2015, 19:02
Agreed, apart from the last section it looks great,reminds me of Montreal.
I think they’ve got the amount of run off right but there’s quite a few places I would like to see something a bit softer than concrete by the race weekend.
With this, sochi and Austria we’ve had some decent ‘new’ tracks recently.
George (@george)
14th October 2015, 23:36
Yeah it’s a pity they didn’t at least put some decent camber in the stadium section, like at Hockenheim. I imagine that’s another thing prohibited by the circuit design rules though.
dam00r (@dam00r)
14th October 2015, 15:34
The track layout looks damn sweet.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
14th October 2015, 15:40
From playing the F1 game I really like it.
The middle sector has a flowing sort of maggots/becketts style opening-out snake-like section (to use the technical term) which is quite tricky to maintain the speed through and should really help the better drivers outshine their machinery, if the game is representative…
Atticus (@atticus-2)
14th October 2015, 23:01
It’s ironic, because they actually fiddled with it a bit since F1 2015 drawn its version based on the initial design plans.
T8 became a bit more of a corner instead of just an arc and will now surely need lifting, while T10 became slower, medium-speed now instead of high-speed in the game.
Should still be fun though.
Mijail (@mijail)
14th October 2015, 15:35
For all f1f readers: Youre welcome to come to Mexico, the last tickets are still available, the exchange rate is 19mxn – 1€. Flights are less than 800€. The sky will be blue and the weather will be warm plus in November 1st and 2nd Mexicans celebrate “Dia de Muertos” you will be in for a treat.
cswilly (@cswilly)
14th October 2015, 17:40
+1
dam00r (@dam00r)
14th October 2015, 22:05
But the Grand Prix tickets are damn expensive. @mijail
R.J. O'Connell (@rjoconnell)
14th October 2015, 15:37
Definitely was not as bad as some had feared when looking at the layout. I’ll tell you what – the run through turns 7-11 are going to be superb under speed in F1 cars.
Lewisham Milton
14th October 2015, 17:33
Yep, that was always a great flowing section. Pleased the rest of it’s pretty much as I remember – I feared there’d be more first-gear faffing around early in the lap, but that seems to be confined to the softball field.
It’s still a tragedy what they’ve done to Peraltada, but now we’ve been to Sochi it doesn’t look so bad.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
14th October 2015, 15:41
Has a Hockenheim feeling to me somehow…?
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! - @omarr-pepper (@)
14th October 2015, 15:58
@xtwl even with a Stadium section as Hockeinheim. That last part looks so Tilke’d though.
Arnold Triyudho Wardono (@ernietheracefan)
14th October 2015, 16:05
Pre-Tilke or post-Tilke..?
Schmorbraten (@schmorbraten)
14th October 2015, 15:53
What car is that? An old Indycar? Or Indy Lights?
PeterG
14th October 2015, 16:02
its a 3 seater, not sure what the car was originally.
https://youtu.be/ELKjrE8iykY?t=47s
UNeedAFinn2Win
14th October 2015, 17:54
Renault
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
14th October 2015, 15:58
Did they really have to do that to the Peraltada – still think fewer turns could’ve done the job.
Doesn’t look like a west-of-Greenwich, UK version of Valencia so far though.
(No, not Ricardo Tormo)
PeterG
14th October 2015, 16:00
I get why they want to run through the stadium but think the layout they have there is unnecessarily mickey-mouse.
They could/should have used the layout champcar ran through there.
https://youtu.be/D9U3SS3phqk?t=26m31s
they did run through the peraltada the last 2 years they ran there but they installed a fiddly chicane just before it to slow the cars down.
https://youtu.be/setycCsrzFc?t=22m3s
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
14th October 2015, 16:28
That first straight is so long! But I wish that there was just a bit of elevation change somewhere on the track.
Klon (@)
14th October 2015, 16:55
Controversal opinion time: these visuals were worth taking out that cheap Parabolica knockoff.
fernando rosales
14th October 2015, 17:11
sergio perez at hnoz rodriguez in pedro rodriguez car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQEplYSQg0g
Ciaran (@ciaran)
14th October 2015, 17:43
I’m not convinced by that left-right section in the middle of the stadium, but overall it looks pretty good. It’s quite strange seeing walls so close to the track on a modern circuit.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
14th October 2015, 17:54
The modernized corners look surprisingly fast (for example T1-3, T4-5); I was afraid that they’d be much slower. Also the entry into the Peraltada stadium seems rather fast (3rd or 4th gear), making the next corner a possible place for a desperate overtaking move.
And the Esses are a disappointment, I was hoping they’d be flat out, but then again, this is modern F1.
faulty (@faulty)
14th October 2015, 19:16
Esses, where?
I seem to recall the track was designed with a snake section of eight alternating bends, so that drivers were really driving throughout the whole section. There’s now like 3 right-left-straight mini sections with enough straights to allow the drivers to get back into shape if they miss an apex or carry too much speed on entry.
I.am.dissapoint.
anon
14th October 2015, 21:53
@faulty, the esses that you are referring to were not part of the original layout of the circuit when it was constructed in the 1960’s – they were added in when the track was redesigned back in 1986. The modifications that have been made to that section of the track, in some ways, are pushing it more towards the original layout that was used in the 1960’s than the modified layout used in the 1980’s.
faulty (@faulty)
15th October 2015, 20:58
It was 5 bends originally but then when, for safety reasons, “the spiral” was deleted, the other “S” joined up. And that was in the seventies.
http://www.jsolana.com.mx/pista.html
Not to make a big fuzz about nothing, I have my doubts that the Tilke’d esses will retain the original character, but I still minor hopes for it.
Eoin (@eoin16)
14th October 2015, 20:40
Let’s hope Kimi doesn’t read your comment. You may have given him an idea about where to make his next desperate over taking attempt ;)
Really like the track though. Stadium kinda reminds me of the last sector in Turkey though
graham228221 (@graham228221)
15th October 2015, 7:46
If the FIA are smart they’ll put a DRS zone on that entry into the stadium, encouraging an unorthodox place for overtaking and for the spectators livening up what otherwise looks like the dullest part of the lap.
But the FIA being the FIA, they’ll no doubt put them on the longest straights like they always do – surely the start/finish straight it long enough for slipstreaming without DRS?
AldoH
14th October 2015, 18:01
I miss the Peraltada, but the track looks sweet.
Strontium (@strontium)
14th October 2015, 18:55
Yay a tilkedrome! Just what we wanted!
In fairness this isn’t as bad I had expected. It has a reasonable flow and looks quite classic, although obviously it isn’t finished yet.
I love how the engineer patted the front right tyre at the end as if to say ‘well done’.
Fixy (@)
14th October 2015, 19:09
The track has something unique – and by that I don’t mean it will have nice racing. The walls on the straights and the narrow tarmac could potentially be dangerous, but give the circuit a feeling of diversity from the other circuits. The last section is too twisty, the driver had to pratically stop the car to turn in, and reminds me of Sochi, but the rest has potential: let’s hope it delivers.
Oli
14th October 2015, 19:41
What a mess of a track, but it should be great!
sato113 (@sato113)
14th October 2015, 22:45
so…. who drove and what car is it? something the article seems to miss.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
15th October 2015, 16:53
@sato113 How is that important to what the track is like?
Besides, this just appears to be a demo run in a three seater “F1” car.
Duncan Snowden
14th October 2015, 23:26
Could be worse. It looks surprisingly similar to what I remember considering amount of alteration there’s actually been. I really thought they’d spoil the esses, but if anything that section looks like it might even be better than before. It’s still heartbreaking to see such heavy braking before Peraltada though, and I agree with other commenters: the stands around the ballpark section are spectacular, but the track itself could do with being less twisty.
Neil (@neilosjames)
15th October 2015, 0:28
First impressions are fairly good. Different to what we normally see and seems to have retained a bit of the ‘organic’ old style circuit style – it doesn’t look like at all like a shiny plastic new-build. And love the way the grandstands loom over the circuit in parts.
(of course, once they finish it, maybe it’ll look horrible, but for now it looks nice)
John Doe (@watertank)
15th October 2015, 1:43
The t4 onwards and the stadium looks really Mickey mouse. (basically the two stadium sections)
joac21 (@joac21)
15th October 2015, 2:40
Can someone provide a link. (Cant see the onboard vídeo)
Waxon
15th October 2015, 5:11
For those who wondered why stadium section is so twisty that’s because when Champ Car ran in 2003, 2004 and 2005 people on stadium stands were complaining about the lack of action as the drivers only went through the stadium in a queue due to there was not enough space to make a risky move, as a result of this in 2006 and 2007 it wasn’t use anymore because for fans it wasn’t worth wasting more money on a section without possibility for overtake so that organisers created a chicane at the start of the Peraltada.
Now that F1 comes back to Mexico, using the Peraltada even with a chicane is not possible as there was no run-off area, it’s a blind curve and the cars can reach high speed quickly, instead of this they will be running again in the stadium in a layout that provide more time to see it from stands and with two tight curves trying to provide an opportunity for battles and overtakings take place. And even if someone thinks that with a slow and tight curve is impossible to overtake, that someone needs to know what is Loews curve.
John H (@john-h)
15th October 2015, 6:19
Great track 90%, wide circuit flowing corners… Absolutely fantastic…, then you get to the Tilke section and we’ll, its micky mouse surprise surprise. Unfortunately that’s where they’ve built all the stands to watch F1 cars being reduced to that. Madness!
Tilke getting all these circuit contracts is ripping the soul out of F1, not the engine noise or tyres.
Baron (@baron)
15th October 2015, 12:12
Extreme dustiness. Good job modern F1 cars run like Dysons. Handy…
Greg Kingston (@gregkingston)
15th October 2015, 13:10
Looks a lot better than I thought. I’d rather see this than a Monaco procession. Let’s just hope they finish it in time.
Michael Brown
15th October 2015, 15:14
I wish that the original Peraltada remained, but I think there isn’t enough runoff at the exit, and they won’t demolish the grandstands.
What about Interlagos? Have they gone through with relocating the pits to make room for the old start straight?
markp
15th October 2015, 15:16
Looks really good to me, the trackside furniture reminds me of Canada, very little run off and grass plus it looks a bit rough around the edges like a proper old track not like the overly clean Yas Marina track. Just need to use 1970’s cameras and sound quality with a rubbish tv signal and it will be a retro race. Maybe Murray Walker can come back for one race to commentate.
kpcart
15th October 2015, 16:24
That track looks so easy… Any amatuer driver would be quick in an f1 car there. Expect Mercedes procession.
Henri Neethling
15th October 2015, 19:06
Looks like it has the feel of a combination between Montreal and Silverstone (and the stadium section of Hockenheim). This track will definitely cause the necessary frustration to encourage(?) silly overtaking as witnessed at Sochi. Not bad though, not bad at all. Might see a few smash-ups in the midfield.
Saurabh (@sksahukanker62)
17th October 2015, 7:58
This one look different and exciting…