After just a week from yet another Max Verstappen win—one that reignites a title fight so far dominated by McLaren—the paddock heads to Mexico City for the second stop in the Americas, one of four rounds closing the season. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is the historic home of the Mexican GP and has a unique feature: it sits over 2,000 meters above sea level.
The venue’s altitude is notorious in F1. Teams run a maximum-downforce package—second only to Monaco—because the thin air reduces aerodynamic load. The low air density also makes cooling the power unit and brakes more challenging, complicating overall thermal management.
THIN AIR | COMPOUND STEP | LOW GRIP & LOW ABRASION
· The tyre temperature profile shows fairly even loading across all four tyres. Watch Sector 2 (Turns 4–11), which is more demanding due to its sequence of medium-speed corners.
· For this weekend Pirelli again makes a compound step, bringing C2–C4–C5 (skipping the C3). This suits the track’s low abrasion and relatively low loads and opens up a wider strategic window.
· The final sector is especially spectacular thanks to the Foro Sol stadium section—an old baseball arena that packs out with grandstands and fans on GP weekend.
Expected tyre wear is low, slightly higher on the left-hand side because of the prevalence of right-hand corners. With inherently low grip and low abrasion, degradation should be limited; however, careful thermal management of the car—power unit, brakes and tyres—remains critical in the thin air. In recent years the Mexico City GP has produced plenty of action thanks to its very long main straight and multiple overtaking opportunities around the lap.
