The Formulation 1 World Championship now strikes south from Texas to sort out the second a part of the triple header within the Americas, the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix on the circuit named after the Rodriguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, the native heroes who each raced for Scuderia Ferrari within the Sixties.
The Scuderia arrives in Mexico off the again of a podium end for Carlos Sainz, which allowed the crew to shut the hole barely on Mercedes within the Constructors’ championship. The observe has a protracted Formulation 1 historical past, with 22 Grands Prix held right here up to now and it poses a novel problem for groups and drivers.
The peculiar attribute of this observe is the rarefied air, which is because of the reality it sits at 2,240 metres above sea-level, that means that the automobiles run most downforce ranges extra normally seen at sluggish, twisty tracks like Monaco. Nonetheless, the low air density produces much less drag and meaning the automobiles hit very excessive high speeds down the straights. It explains why this observe witnessed the best high pace – 372.5 km/h – ever recorded by a Formulation 1 automotive. The second sector from flip 4 to 11 is hardest on tyres, being the twistiest with loads of medium pace corners. The primary sector is all in regards to the energy unit because it options two lengthy straights, one in every of them on the start-finish straight. The third sector contains the atmospheric stadium part with 4 sluggish corners, because the drivers move by the previous baseball diamond surrounded by very excessive grandstands, filled with one of many noisiest crowds of the 12 months. Two extra tight proper handers and the automobiles are again to the beginning of the subsequent lap. There are three DRS zones.
Cooling the automotive elements is one other problem, additionally due to the altitude and it must be considered for each the engine and the brakes. Final however not least, the forecast is for reasonably changeable climate in Mexico Metropolis this week, with various temperatures and an opportunity of rain virtually day by day.
Frederic Vasseur, Group Principal: We left Austin with a unique end result to the ending order previous the flag, which promoted Carlos to a spot on the rostrum, truly nicely deserved given how he managed his race. It has additionally allowed us to claw again some factors in our pursuit of second place within the Constructors’ classification.
Nonetheless, in Mexico I need to see a extra focussed crew, as we can not afford to get issues incorrect in how we assess the race evolution, as was the case in Austin. The altitude in Mexico makes for a novel race, because it influences varied facets of the automotive’s behaviour from pure efficiency to tyre administration.
With this occasion operating to the normal weekend timetable, we will perform all the mandatory analysis work over the three free observe periods and I consider we’ll give you focused methods that can enable us to do our greatest in what, on paper, could be fairly an advanced race. All of us, Carlos and Charles included, should have the ability to seize any alternatives that come our approach.
Ferrari in Mexico
GP contested 21
Debut Mexico GP 1963 (J. Surtees ret.; L. Bandini ret.)
Wins 2 (9.52%)
Pole positions 3 (14.28%)
Quickest race laps 5 (23.81%)
Whole podiums 11 (17.46%)
Three inquiries to Carlos Santi – Race Efficiency Engineer
The Mexico Metropolis race takes place at excessive altitude and subsequently the air is rarefied. How does this have an effect on the automotive and its efficiency?
Carlos Santi: It primarily impacts the selection of downforce stage. Although the automotive is run with most load, this truly delivers a stage of downforce corresponding to that utilized in Monza, in different phrases equal to a low downforce set-up in “regular” atmospheric stress. The low atmospheric stress additionally has a major impact on the general cooling of the automotive, because the rarefied air means its cooling effectivity is way decrease than regular and so the automobiles run with the best cooling configuration of the season.
What are the challenges of the Mexico Metropolis observe?
CS: The grip stage is the bottom we encounter all season due to the aforementioned low stage of downforce in addition to the actual fact the observe is used little or no throughout the 12 months. That is difficult for the drivers, as a result of whereas making an attempt to go as quick as potential, they must drive very exactly, to keep away from locking up the brakes or spinning the wheels when on the lookout for traction, or sliding within the corners, which overheats the tyres and results in an additional lack of grip. As for the set-up, one goals to make the automotive straightforward to drive, going for choices that favour predictable behaviour and instil confidence, even when this is perhaps at the price of pure efficiency. Subsequently, to assist Carlos and Charles, it is possible they are going to be given, a minimum of initially, a extra forgiving automotive relating to stability.
And what about you? How did you be part of the Scuderia and what’s the smartest thing about working right here?
CS: I all the time dreamed of working for Ferrari since I used to be a baby, even when I took a reasonably tortuous path to get right here. After getting my diploma, I joined the FIAT Analysis Centre in Turin the place I labored on automobile dynamics for street automobiles. After 5 years, I lastly received a job in motorsport, with a German firm that was on the lookout for a efficiency engineer on a prototype it was constructing to compete in WEC (World Endurance Championship) and ALMS (American Le Mans Sequence.) After 4 years in Germany, when the programme ended, I received a suggestion from Ferrari to work on the driving simulator which was then being developed within the automobile dynamics division. One of the best factor about it? The truth that, for higher or worse, Ferrari is predicted to win. It is a mantra, but it surely’s additionally a really robust incentive to attempt to enhance day by day.
Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix – Details & Figures
2. The billions of butterflies that migrate yearly from Canada to Mexico after which again once more. Normally, these lovely multicoloured bugs spend the months from November to March on the good excessive plains of Central America.
4.5. The quantity in thousands and thousands of cubic metres of the Cholula pyramid, the largest on the earth, far bigger than these in Egypt. Mexico has way more pyramids than the North African nation, with round 30 unfold throughout the nation, together with the imposing ones at La Venta and Kukulkan, in addition to the nicely preserved websites of Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Tepozteco and Calakmul within the Yukatan area.
5+1. The Grands Prix this season named after a metropolis reasonably than a rustic, within the order during which they seem on the calendar: Miami (United States), Mexico Metropolis (Mexico), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Las Vegas (United States) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). Singapore is uncommon in being a metropolis state, subsequently the title refers to each a metropolis and a rustic.
8. Mexico Metropolis’s place within the rankings of the world’s highest capital cities. At 2,240 metres above sea stage, the Central American metropolis sits behind Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, highest of all at 3,640 metres, then Quito (Ecuador, 2,850), Bogota (Colombia, 2,625), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, 2,355), Thimphu (Bhutan, 2,334), Asmara (Eritrea, 2,325) and Sana’a (Yemen, 2,250). Mexico Metropolis was truly seventh on the record up till round 30 years in the past, however it’s progressively subsiding and has dropped 12 metres, thus placing it behind the Yemeni capital.
59. The variety of sorts of corn present in Mexico and really vibrant they’re too. Other than the commonest shade of yellow, others are shiny pink, whereas one also can discover varieties in blue, inexperienced and even white. Nonetheless, they’ve all advanced from the identical wild species, referred to as teosinte. No different nation on the earth can declare to be extra tied to corn, socially, economically and culturally, with it having been a staple of Mexican cooking for hundreds of years.
