The 2026 F1 season will include a round in Mexico after the series agreed a new deal with the promoters of the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Mexico returned to the world championship calendar in 2015 but its current deal was due to run out after this year’s race. Formula One Management announced the latest in a series of three-year extensions to the race’s deal today.F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali thanked the country’s president Claudia Sheinbaum “for her strong commitment to Formula 1.” Sheinbaum previously helped ensure the continuation of the race when she was the head of the government of Mexico City. Domenicali also extended his thanks to her successor in the role, Clara Brugada and Alejandro Soberon Kuri, the CEO of Grupo CIE which promotes the race.
There will be no Mexican driver on the grid for this year’s race for the first time since the event’s return a decade ago. However Sergio Perez, who lost his drive with Red Bull at the end of last season, is rumoured to be in discussions with Cadillac about joining the new team which will join the grid next year.
The news is a further blow to the promoters of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. That race and the Las Vegas Grand Prix are the only rounds on this year’s calendar without a deal for next season, but the Nevada event is considered much more likely to remain on the schedule. Formula One Management has invested heavily in its showpiece round, owns the site its paddock stands on and already has a deal to continue using the public roads which form part of the track.
Domenicali said earlier this month it “will be increasingly difficult to have two races in the same country” due to the growing demand for calendar places. Italy’s other round of the world championship is contracted to remain at Monza until at least 2031.
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Jere (@jerejj)
30th April 2025, 18:16
Mexico City was never going to get dropped anyway, so continuation was effectively always a mere formality.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
30th April 2025, 18:38
Whoopee…..I can hardly contain my excitement.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
30th April 2025, 18:46
Good.
I like Mexico for the simple reason that it’s altitude can cause issues for some teams.
Personally, I would like for at least 50% of the circuits to have a variable that can introduce disruption to the expected order/routine.
Altitude, Hills, Rainy season, etc etc.
An Sionnach
30th April 2025, 19:03
…power cuts, earthquakes, dinosaurs!
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
30th April 2025, 19:14
Max radio = “There was no way that Raptor was going to make the corner …. not my fault!” ;)
An Sionnach
30th April 2025, 19:39
Earthquakes might lead to a spate of plank wear-related disqualifications… if the ground hasn’t swallowed the cars up.
MacLeod (@macleod)
1st May 2025, 7:59
You forgot Vulcano’s eruptions.
An Sionnach
2nd May 2025, 1:26
I was thinking of cars chased by dinosaurs fleeing multiple volcanic eruptions during a meteor strike. It could be a nexus of disasters, with train and plane crashes also imminent. If it were to happen, you’d watch it, extinction event or no.