What to expect from the 2018 Mexican F1 GP?
Last weekend we saw an incredible thrilling race. The race in Austin became an historic Grand Prix right after Kimi Raikkonen won his 10th victory for Scuderia Ferrari.
A lot of interesting things happened during the race. Kimi Raikkonen had to wait for his 21st F1 victory for 2.044 days and 113 races. He won the race by passing Lewis Hamilton in the first corner of the race and defended great against Max Verstappen near the end of the race to get his very much deserved race win.
Sebastian Vettel had again a poor start of the race. His spin in turn 13 op lap 1, while trying to pass Daniel Ricciardo for P3 was again a very unfortunate error by the German driver. This season Vettel made six big mistakes that have costed him a lot of points and will probably cost him his 5th F1 drivers title.
With the six mistakes Vettel lost 56 points during current 2018 season:
- He out-braked himself in Azerbaijan in turn 1 after SC period on P2 and finished 4th.(-6 ponts)
- His crash into Bottas in France after the start on 3rd place. He finished 5th (-5 points) .
- His crash in Germany while leading the race (lost 25 points).
- His spin in Italy while trying to pass Hamilton on P2 (lost 3 points)
- His spin in Japan while trying to pass Max Verstappen while on P4 (-4 points)
- His spin in Austin while trying to pass Ricciardo while on P4, where he could have won (-13 points).
The pace of Ferrari is back after the team decided to change the car back to the way it was setup for the race in Belgium. So Hamilton will probably will win the 2018 F1 drivers title this weekend just like he did last year. He only has to finish 7th to score 6 points to win the title. Hamilton had his worst race last season in Mexico and finished 9th...
Next race will be the 19th race of the 2018 season and also the 19th Mexican Formula 1 Grand Prix.
2018 Mexican GP facts & Figures
The first Mexican Grand Prix was held in 1963 already 55 years ago. All Grand Prix are driven on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. The first race was won by Jim Clark in the Lotus. This GP has had to breaks. One from 1971 till 1986 and one from 1993 till 2015 and is now back for the 3rd time after a break of 23 years.
Out of all the drivers that won in Mexico there are 3 drivers that won it 2 times: Jim Clark, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. None of the current drivers have won it more than once. Only Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were on the top of the podium in 2016 and 2017. The race was won by retired F1 driver Nico Rosberg back in 2015.
Three teams won the Mexican GP 3 times. Lotus was the first, McLaren 2nd and Williams the 3rd team to win the race 3 times. Ferrari & Mercedes won it bot 2 times and Red Bull won once in Mexico City.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez Circuit
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit is named after the 2 Mexican race drivers that were brothers Pedro Rodríguez and Ricardo Rodríguez. Hermanos means brothers in English
Ricardo drove for Ferrari back in 1961 and 1962 and was with 19 years and 208 days the youngest driver to compete in F1 for a long time. Max Verstappen broke his "record" in 2016. He was killed on the circuit in the final corner of the track, during a none championship race in 1962. Ricardo took part in only 5 grand prix before he died at the age of 20. He never won a race. The grand prix was held for the first time the next year. His older brother Pedro also died
His older brother Pedro had more success. He won 2 grand prix races. He also drove for Ferrari, but also never won for the Italian team. Pedro also was killed in action. He died at the age of 31 on the Norisring driving a Ferrari 512M sports car.
The circuit itself is a semi-closed circuit and situated in a public park in Mexico-City at an altitude of 2.229 meters. The track is driven clockwise and has 17 turns, 10 right-handers and 7 left-handers.The fastest corner is turn 8 with 230 km/h. The slowest is turn 13 with 80 km/h in the crowded stadium section, were the podium ceremony also is held.
The autodromo has a DRS section on each straight where cars can reach an unbelievable speed. Last year Vettel drove 362.4 km/h with the Ferrari on the start/finish straight. Overtaking is easily done at the end of these 2 straights.
The official lap record is also on the name of Sebastian Vettel. He drove 1:18.785 during last years race in lap 68. This time will probably be broken this year with the more powerful power units.
2018 Mexican Grand Prix Infographic
What happened in last years 2017 Mexican F1 GP?
Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen on the podium Mexico GP F1/2017
Last years race was a good one. Sebastian Vettel had trained pole position, Verstappen 2nd and Hamilton 3rd. The 3 drivers drove side by side going into turn 1. Verstappen and Vettel touched wheels but left enough space. Hamilton and Vettel touched in turn 2, when Hamilton got a right-rear puncture and Vettel got a broken spoiler. Both drivers had to go to the pit en rejoined the circuit as last.
Hamilton could not get up to speed on the soft tyres and it took several laps before he even could pass the Sauber cars. He also seemed to have a lot of downforce loss, when approaching cars. Eventually he pitted and got up to speed on the super soft Pirelli's. He could pass a lot of cars with DRS on the long straights and had a great fight with Fernando Alonso in the McLaren.
Hamilton finished 9th and Vettel 4th. This 9th place of Hamilton was enough to win his 4th drivers title. The point difference of 55 points between them did the trick. In the last 2 races on the calendar there were 50 points to win when finishing 1st. So if Hamilton would retire 2 times and Vettel would win both races he would not win enough points to be pass him in the drivers standings.
Max Verstappen won the race with Red Bull and scored his 3rd race win of his F1 career.
Mexican F1 GP 2018 Tyres
The Hypersoft makes its fifth and penultimate appearance this season in Mexico alongside the Ultrasoft and Supersoft, giving a rapid twist to a perennially popular venue. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is one of the fastest tracks on which the Hypersoft will be used this year, allowing the drivers to make full use of the pink tyre’s record-breaking potential. Based on the much older Formula 1 circuit that was first used in 1962, the latest incarnation of the track still manages to retain an old-school feel.
With the introduction of the Pink hypersoft to Mexico, the softest nomination is effectively two steps softer than last year, when soft, supersoft and ultrasoft were chosen. All the 2018 compounds are a step softer than their 2017 equivalents and the hypersoft goes one step softer still
The track surface is quite smooth and slippery, reducing tyre wear and degradation.
The pit lane is one of the longest of the year: this increases the time needed to make a stop and will probably encourage the teams towards a one-stopper.
A one-stopper was in fact the winning strategy last year (from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen), but there were some two-stoppers, helped by a virtual safety car. There’s a wide mix of speeds and corners: as well as the two fast straights. It’s the highest altitude circuit of the year: this means that the cars generate less downforce in the thin air and have to rely more on mechanical grip from the tyres.
Selected sets for the 2018 Mexican F1 GP
Mexican GP Weather Forecast
The weather forecast for this weekend in Mexico City varies. On Friday during day time it's dry and around 20°C during FP1 & FP2. At the end of FP2 we could see some showers.
Saturday it will be around 19°C, but rain will fall whole day. FP3 will have light showers. Qualifying will be wet.
On Sunday the morning looks to be dry. Around noon the change of rain grows and halfway the race it could start to rain.
Who will be on the 2018 Mexican F1 GP podium?
The US GP race showed a very different performance than the 3 races before. The current speed of the top team cars we saw was quite alarming for Mercedes.
Ferrari changed their car back to the version that was able to beat the pace of Mercedes. The characteristics of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is more of less the same as COTA. Last year Sebastian Vettel scored pole position but wasn't able to win the race. The race was won by Verstappen, who also showed an amazing performance last race in Austin by starting 18th and cross the finish line only 1 second behind the winner in his Red Bull.
Because Verstappen is on a high and won last year we think he will do it again this season. His power unit will be the big worry, but the high altitude of the circuit is responsible for less downforce, which has the Red Bull the most.
On the other hand Ferrari looks to be very strong again and might have the best package. Kimi Raikkonen showed that
he still can win races and Sebastian Vettel also came back from last to 4th and even passed Valtteri Bottas in Austin. Because the race winner is hard to predict, my guess is that Formula 1 betting offices will show a higher revenue on Hamilton as race winner than usual.
My podium prediction for the Mexican Grand Prix is:
1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lewis Hamilton & 3. Sebastian Vettel
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