Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024

Mexican GP to sign new Formula 1 contract ‘next week’

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The head of Mexico City’s government has said it will sign a new deal to keep its race on the Formula 1 calendar next week.

The future of the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been in doubt as its contract expires after this year’s race.

However Clara Brugada, the head of government for the country’s capital, said this week they will formally announce a contract extension with Formula One Management on Wednesday.

“On 30 April, we will be signing the agreement with Formula 1, so this is good news,” said Brugada, according to Marca. “On the same day, we will inform you all and make it officially public.”

Mexico’s round of the world championship returned to the F1 calendar in 2015. It has held a race every year since then, except in 2020 when it was called off due to the pandemic.

The race’s last contract extension, for three years, was agreed in 2022 by one of Brugada’s predecessors, Claudia Sheinbaum, who became the country’s president last year.

It has proved a hugely popular event, with large crowds filling the grandstands, most noticeably at the unique Foro Sol stadium section at the end of the track. However this year’s race stands to be the first without a Mexican driver in the field since the event returned to the world championship calendar.

Sergio Perez, who finished third for Red Bull in the 2021 and 2022 races, was dropped by the team at the end of last year. It remains to be seen what effect his absence will have, and whether he might return to the grid next year with new US team Cadillac.

The event is one of F1’s five rounds in North America, along with the Canadian Grand Prix and three events in the USA.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Mexican GP to sign new Formula 1 contract ‘next week’”

  1. The Mexico City GP’s continuation has been a mere formality for a while.

  2. Chris Horton
    26th April 2025, 10:01

    I’ll be happy to see this contract renewed. The circuit isn’t bad but I absolutely love the atmosphere and enthusiasm around this race.

    1. some racing fan
      29th April 2025, 18:54

      No one cares what you think or feel about anything. I’m only commenting out of amazement that you actually seem to think anyone cares.

      But anyway it’s good to see this race getting new contract, even if the new layout has proven to be a failure for good racing. The high altitude adds a unique challenge.

  3. So Perez to be annouced at Cadillac soon then?

    1. Wish it was Pato O’Ward instead, but I can’t see Zak Brown loaning him out.

    2. @bascb – That’ll most likely happen in any case regardless of Mexico City GP’s situation.

      @bullfrog – Pato O’Ward would, of course, leave McLaren altogether just like Bortoleto did & since they were willing to easily release him, i.e., Audi didn’t need to fight for his services nor even provide financial compensation, I’m sure Cadillac wouldn’t struggle with getting Pato’s services anymore, especially given that he isn’t going to become a full-time F1 driver otherwise anyway with both current drivers highly unlikely to leave anytime soon unless something drastic happened, not to mention he is mostly only involved with McLaren’s IndyCar operations with the F1 team being more or less only a side aspect of his overall involvement with the manufacturer.

      1. ‘any more’

        1. Thank you so much for the clarification :/

  4. It’s unfortunate the Mexicans don’t have a better track, because they put on a great show each time F1 goes there. Between the awkward stadium section, the rather dull corner sequence in the middle and then those first two chicanes it doesn’t have any exciting features. It’s also really slow in F1 terms.

    1. What makes a great circuit I guess is subjective. If you drew Interlagos on a napkin I’d scoff at the idea it would make a good circuit. But it’s actually fun to drive in games and makes great racing (exactly how I’m not sure). But it works, the race has ‘character’ and atmosphere. Driving it is actually challenging. It’s not Spa, and I guess that is part of it’s charm. It’s the opposite of Spa. (though I think Monaco will always be the ‘opposite’ of any track).

      I’ve not attended the Mexican GP but it looks like there’s an appetite for it. Least the promoters seem to do a good job. It looks fun. But the circuit itself has little flow, there are worse, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Catalunya are not on the top of my ‘wish list’.

      A Mexican track with a bit more ‘character’ would be amazing. I’m going to Zandvoort this year, basically because I’ve not been and it’ll be the last Dutch GP for a while I guess. I expect the ‘Orange Army’ to be chanting, ‘relieving themselves’ in places they probably shouldn’t.

      I want to go because it looks like fun. China doesn’t look fun, nor the circuit exciting. I presume Liberty has a business model of what a promoter will pay against they make out of a packed crowd. Drive to Survive rarely steps outside of the paddock. If there was more people, they might.

    2. My thoughts exactly. It looks like a great event, awesome atmosphere and I’m sure it would fun to attend. But, as a racing track it’s one of the worst on the calendar. I can’t remember a single exciting race there. I think the stop start nature and slow 90 degrees corners just break up the flow and prevent cars from following closely or gaining momentum, along with the low air density also meaning you don’t get a good slipstream along the straight. Wish they could make some significant changes or hold it at a different venue, but not sure either of those things are feasible.

    3. some racing fan
      29th April 2025, 18:58

      The fact that it is slow is largely down to the altitude- even though the cars reach their highest speeds of the season down the main straight!

  5. In 1992 news of the Mexican GP remaining on the calendar would have been something I was thrilled about as that layout of this circuit was one of my favourites.

    Now however I just can’t get all that excited about the prospect because I think they completely ruined the circuit with the alterations and took away every single element which once made it such a great one.

    And it’s not just the wonderful Peraltada been replaced by the stadium it’s everything else they changed. You go back and watch the old track and every corner has a nice flow to it and the esses are all long radius where each flows lovely into the next which is faster than the prior and it’s fun to watch and challenging drive.

    The modern layout is not necessarily an awful track but it’s just a very uninspiring one which has lost it’s character and soul and is simply in no way as great as what was butchered to create it.

    1. And for any newer fans unfamiliar with the old layout.

      https://youtu.be/y0lJa0iqYbQ?si=arW_PSVLh27KPXDN

      1. some racing fan
        29th April 2025, 19:03

        I don’t know. As fantastic as the old layout was, it was excruciatingly bumpy. I’ve watched the onboard videos from that time you’ve posted on YouTube. There is one of Michele Alboreto doing a lap in the 1990 Arrows being run with springs that were too stiff in the rear barely holding onto the car going through the Esses. When the Mexican GP didn’t get a contract extension past 1992 (that was also down to Mexico City’s appalling pollution back then too), it wouldn’t have been hard to see why. The drivers complained vociferously about the bumps in ‘92.

    2. I don’t necessarily mind the Foro Sol interior section being part of the track configuration over the old Peraltada corner, but I wish it’d only be a single 90-degree left-hander rather than the excessively twisty corner combination.

  6. Not a fan of this circuit. Would rather see it been put on a every-other-year schedule.

  7. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    26th April 2025, 12:06

    I love that it’s an actual circuit but the final sector is atrocious.

  8. Terrible news for a terrible track.

  9. The track is altogether decent, but that final arena sector is atrocious. Just getting rid of turns 14 and 15 would make it better.

  10. Another race track that as been butchered and not worthy of F1 any more.

  11. One of the worst tracks on the calendar, and the so called “atmosphere” is just people screaming “Checo, Checo!” for 3 days in a role and the getting into fist fights at the stands, just awful.

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