Race Report by Aramco

Mexico CityMexico City

2022 season

Sebastian and Lance both gained places from their grid positions at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but were unable to take points home from the Mexico City Grand Prix after a challenging event for the team.

2022 season

Mexico City Grand Prix circuit figures

Number of pitstops

Longest stint (laps)

305

Total laps in Mexico City

1313

Total km in Mexico City

Fastest lapM:S.MS

1.23.086

Sebastian

1.22.463

Lance

Max speedKM/H

344.6

Sebastian

344

Lance

Luckily, we did not lose too much ground in the fight for sixth in the Constructors'.
Sebastian Vettel

Mexico City GP

Sebastian Vettel

"Overall, we were just a little bit too slow today. At the start of the race, I could hold on to the cars in front of me, but then I was a bit unlucky to get tangled up with Yuki [Tsunoda].

"His car was damaged, and he came back onto the track right in front of me – I lost too much time and was an easy target for the others.

"The car did not feel too great and the afternoon was a bit of a struggle – but, luckily, we did not lose too much ground in the fight for sixth in the Constructors' Championship."

On the move with Pierre, he braked late and passed me but did not give me any room.
Lance Stroll

Mexico City GP

Lance Stroll

"The start was great; it was definitely the highlight of the race.

"On the move with Pierre [Gasly], he braked late, passed me but did not give me any room. However, it would not have really changed our day if that had not happened.

"There were fun moments out there passing other cars, but we struggled a lot with our pace and the tyres.

"We will try to understand this dip in performance and see how we can make progress to maximise the final two races of the season."

This was an afternoon of damage limitation – we will pick up the fight again in Brazil.
Mike Krack - Team Principal

Mexico City GP

Mike Krack

"This is a race where you need to skilfully manage the brakes and tyres. And, despite the best efforts of our drivers and engineers to do just that, we were never really in a position to capitalise.

"Lance drove another typically charging opening lap to jump five places, and Sebastian was precise and clinical all afternoon – but he just did not have the pace to fend off a gaggle of faster cars.

"In the battle for sixth in the Constructors' Championship, this was an afternoon of damage limitation – we will pick up the fight again in Brazil next month."

Your guide to Mexico City

With Cognizant

Insight and Speed

Altitude

The distinctive element of this venue is its incredibly high altitude. This affects the cars in several ways: downforce and drag are both reduced, due to there being less air to move. Also, the output from the power unit is reduced, and the cooling on the cars is more difficult to manage.

Safety Cars

The appearance of a Virtual Safety Car is twice as likely as a full Safety Car. It isn't a particularly long pitlane delta time, so it can be possible to make a 'cheap' pitstop in the event of an interruption during the race. The retirement rate is also below the norm – just three DNFs on average.

Overtaking

Harder than it appears. The effect of the slipstream is lower than at other tracks, due to there being less air to punch through. This also makes DRS less effective. Regardless, there are three zones, and the majority of the overtakes (around 70 percent) happen into Turn One at the end of the long straight.

With SentinelOne

Unlocking the Lap

Turn One may appear no different to many similar corners on the calendar, but it is a challenge. The approach-speed is one of the highest on the calendar, which makes finding a braking point tricky, and the lack of downforce due to the altitude only adds to that. Additionally, the exit needs to be compromised heavily for the chicane that immediately follows.

The Esses – Turns Seven through to 11 – is where the cars will usually rely the most on the downforce. With aero grip drastically reduced – despite teams running very high levels of wing – it makes this sequence of fast bends all the trickier. Turn 10 in particular is tough and it is easy to lose stability through this corner.

Concluding the lap are Turns 16 and 17. The sharper of the two right-handers – named after Nigel Mansell – is crucial to the lap, while also setting up the next one for the very long pitstraight that follows. The last corner, while still called Peraltada, is a shadow of its former self but requires a tricky balancing act on the throttle to maximise acceleration on to the main straight.