Mexican Grand Prix 2016 Preview: Start Time, TV Info, Weather, Schedule, Odds
The return of the Mexican Grand Prix in 2015 was welcomed both by local fans and the wider Formula One world.
The grandstands at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez were packed last autumn, with an attendance of 336,000 over the weekend. This year, the circuit is targeting 350,000 admissions, according to Rodrigo Sanchez, the track's director of marketing and media relations, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders.
Lewis Hamilton won last Sunday in Austin, Texas, and he needs to keep winning for the final three races of the season if he hopes to overhaul his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, and win his fourth drivers' title.
Barring car problems or a crash for Rosberg, Hamilton's task looks almost impossible—but he looked to have lost the championship in 2008, too.
There may not be much drama behind the Mercs in the standings, but at least hopefully the title battle will come down to the final race for the second time in three years.
There is a lot of F1 history in Mexico City, with the race dating back to 1963 (with a couple big gaps). The Mexican circuit is named after the Rodriguez brothers, Ricardo and Pedro, both of whom died at the wheel—Ricardo during practice for the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix and Pedro nine years later in a sports car race at the Norisring.
The Mexican fans will have two home favourites to cheer on this weekend in Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez. With the latter's F1 future still undecided, wouldn't this be the perfect time to grab his first points of the season?
Keep reading for a full race-weekend preview, including TV times, championship standings, a circuit map and guide, tyre and DRS information, weather forecast, odds and session times.
Current Standings
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Two second-place finishes and one third—that is all Rosberg needs over the final three races to clinch the title, no matter what Hamilton does. And in Mexico, for the first time, Rosberg can actually win the championship. A victory coupled with a Hamilton DNF would do it.
Sebastian Vettel's fourth-place finish in Austin allowed him to jump back ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen in the standings, but Daniel Ricciardo is clearly the best of the rest. His Texan podium leaves him just 11 points shy of his 2014 total (and there were double-points in Abu Dhabi that year).
The Aussie does not have a DNF this year and has only finished out of the top six twice.
Here are the top 10 drivers heading into the Mexican Grand Prix:
| Position | Driver | Points |
| 1. | Nico Rosberg | 331 |
| 2. | Lewis Hamilton | 305 |
| 3. | Daniel Ricciardo | 227 |
| 4. | Sebastian Vettel | 177 |
| 5. | Kimi Raikkonen | 170 |
| 6. | Max Verstappen | 165 |
| 7. | Sergio Perez | 84 |
| 8. | Valtteri Bottas | 81 |
| 9. | Nico Hulkenberg | 54 |
| 10. | Fernando Alonso | 52 |
Williams are now just eight points behind Force India, thanks to Felipe Massa's seventh-place finish at the U.S. Grand Prix.
For a few laps at the Circuit of the Americas, it looked like Sauber might have a chance to score their first point of the season, as Marcus Ericsson was sitting in 11th place. He soon dropped back, though, and everyone at Manor breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Here is the table for the constructors' championship:
| Position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mercedes | 636 |
| 2. | Red Bull | 400 |
| 3. | Ferrari | 347 |
| 4. | Force India | 138 |
| 5. | Williams | 130 |
| 6. | McLaren | 74 |
| 7. | Toro Rosso | 55 |
| 8. | Haas | 29 |
| 9. | Renault | 8 |
| 10. | Manor | 1 |
| 11. | Sauber | 0 |
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
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The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City is 4.304 kilometres long and features 17 corners. It is a high-speed track with very little change in elevation.
Prior to the circuit's return to the F1 calendar for 2015, it was redesigned, cutting off half of the famous Peraltada, the site of Rodriguez's fatal crash. The new section runs through a baseball stadium built in the track's infield and provides a spectacular setting for the podium celebration.
Guadalajara-born Sergio Perez described the circuit for Force India's race preview, saying:
"The track itself is brilliant: my two favourite parts are the fast esses and the Foro Sol. It's a very technical circuit, with some tricky corners: at the speeds we are doing, managing the car is very complicated and it's important not to lose your rhythm. There is no key place where you can make or break your lap, except perhaps the slow section inside the stadium: you have to nail the combinations of corners to be able to string together a good lap.
"
Check out the F1 circuit guide video to see a lap from a driver's perspective.
Turns 1, 2 and 3
After the lengthy start/finish straight, where the cars could hit more than 370 km/h, the drivers brake heavily, down to about 115 km/h for the 90-degree, right-hand Turn 1.
Turns 2 and 3, a left-right chicane, follow immediately. Both are taken slightly slower than Turn 1.
Turns 4, 5 and 6
A second long straight follows Turn 3 and includes a DRS Zone. Turn 4 strains the brakes again, with the drivers going from more than 300 km/h to approximately 98 km/h to take the sharp left-hander.
Turn 5 is the slowest corner on the circuit, a right-hander taken in second gear at 70 km/h. Then comes Turn 6, a slow, tricky, double-apex right-hander leading on to a short straight.
Turns 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11
These turns comprise the fast "esses," similar to those we just saw at the Circuit of the Americas. Turns 7 and 10 are the slowest of these corners, taken in fourth gear at approximately 155 km/h. The other esses are all taken at more than 200 km/h.
"The altitude makes our setup choice interesting: we have a high-downforce package on the car, but the thin air results in a downforce level similar to what we have in Monza," explained Perez's team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, in their team's race preview. "The car feels loose and very floaty, and massively quick in a straight line."
Turns 12, 13, 14 and 15
After a sweeping straight, the track veers from its original course at Turn 12, a 125 km/h right-hander. Here, the cars enter the massive stadium section. Turn 13 is almost a hairpin, taken in first gear at 75 km/h. Turn 14, a 105 km/h right-hander follows immediately, and then the drivers pass between the two large grandstands, negotiating the kink called Turn 15.
Turns 16 and 17
The circuit rejoins the original Peraltada corner halfway through its original layout at Turn 16. The tight right-hander is taken at 105 km/h before the drivers start to pick up speed for the start/finish straight.
The pit entrance is on the right at the exit of Turn 16, while drivers continuing for another lap accelerate through Turn 17, reaching 230 km/h by the exit. The finish line comes quickly on the straight, and the pit exit is about halfway down to Turn 1 as the drivers start a new lap.
Circuit map is from Wikimedia Commons. Circuit data is from the official FIA website.
Mexican Grand Prix Tyres and DRS Zones
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Last year, the smooth, new surface at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez contributed to a rather bland race. The circuit has hosted several different racing series since, though, so hopefully the asphalt is more broken-in.
Pirelli is also bringing softer tyres to Mexico this year, which should help. The three compounds are medium, soft and supersoft, the same combination as last weekend in the U.S.
According to the Italian tyre company's race preview, the highest speed clocked last year on Mexico's long start/finish straight was 366 km/h—and that number should be topped in 2016!
Haas' Esteban Gutierrez is at one extreme on the tyre-selection scale, with one set of mediums, five sets of softs and seven sets of supersofts for this weekend. Meanwhile, Renault's Kevin Magnussen has five sets of mediums, two sets of softs and six sets of supersofts.
The Mercedes drivers' selections favour the harder tyres, with each driver taking just five supersoft sets.
DRS Zones
There are two DRS zones at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and one detection point. The detection point is at the Turn 15 kink, just before the cars pass between the two stadium grandstands.
The first DRS activation point is about one-third of the way down the start/finish straight, with the second coming on the straight following Turn 3.
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Mexican Grand Prix Weather
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There is nothing too notable about the weather forecast for this weekend in Mexico City.
The highs range between 19 and 22 degrees Celsius, according to AccuWeather, with cloudy periods throughout the weekend.
At press time, the forecast does say a thunderstorm is possible on Sunday afternoon, but there is only a 40-per cent chance of rain, so don't too excited.
Mexican Grand Prix Odds
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Unsurprisingly, Hamilton is once again the favourite in Mexico. It was Rosberg who won the race in 2015, though, kicking off a seven-race winning streak that continued through the beginning of this season.
The best odds available for the top 10 favourites in Mexico are:
| Driver | Odds |
|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 11-10 |
| Nico Rosberg | 11-8 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 14-1 |
| Max Verstappen | 16-1 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 25-1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 40-1 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 300-1 |
| Sergio Perez | 300-1 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 500-1 |
| Felipe Massa | 750-1 |
Selected Others
The Mercs failed to clock the fastest lap again in the U.S. (not that they care, of course). In fact, Hamilton and Rosberg have combined for just two fastest laps over the last eight races. Vettel, who loves collecting statistics like this, has two in a row and is 10-1 to grab a third.
Perez has two podium finishes this year. Even though home advantage does not exist in F1, he is a decent bet if you are looking for a podium long-shot. The odds for the Mexican to finish in the top three are 18-1.
With Hamilton pushing hard to win the last three races, it will not be surprising if the Mercs have another collision, most likely at the first corner. You can get 12-1 odds for a Mercedes to be the first retirement on Sunday.
All odds are taken from Oddschecker and correct at the time of publication.
Mexican Grand Prix Session and TV Times
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Here are the times for the three free practice sessions, qualifying and the race:
| Session | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 10 a.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 2 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 10 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 1 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 1 p.m. |
The above times are in local Mexico City time (CDT, UTC-5). You can convert the times to your local time zone using the helpful tool on the official F1 website.
TV Times
In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports F1 and Channel 4 will have live coverage of all the sessions. The programming start times are as follows (all times BST, until Sunday morning, when clocks go back by one hour and the UK moves to GMT):
| Session | Day | Time (Sky) | Time (Channel 4) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 3:45 p.m. | 3:55 p.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 7:45 p.m. | 7:55 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 3:45 p.m. | 3:55 p.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 6 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 5:30 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
In the United States, NBC has live coverage of all the sessions on NBC, NBCSN and the NBC Sports app, with programming start times as follows (all times EDT):
| Session | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday | 12 p.m. (NBC Sports app) |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 3 p.m. (NBCSN) |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 12 p.m. (NBC Sports app) |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 2 p.m. (NBCSN) |
| Race | Sunday | 2:30 p.m. (NBC) |
Enjoy the race and the rest of the weekend!
Matthew Walthert is an F1 columnist for Bleacher Report UK. He has also written for VICE, FourFourTwo and the Globe and Mail, among others. Follow him on Twitter:
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