Peculiarly, the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, venue for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, demands Monaco-level downforce settings despite its long, 1.2 kilometre main straight, where almost 10 seconds are spent at full throttle and speeds reach nearly 350Km/h.
At over 2,200 metres above sea level, the thin air drastically reduces aerodynamic efficiency as well as engine performance, creating one of the season’s most unusual technical challenges. Teams must run maximum wing levels just to claw back lost downforce. At the same time cooling can become critical.
