F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Pirelli primer: which tyres for the Mexican Grand Prix?

Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is characterized by its smooth and slippery surface which combined with the track's altitude makes the 4.3km circuit a difficult challenge for teams and drivers.

Pirelli's selection for this weekend is right in the middle of its range, with the C2 as the White hard, C3 as the Yellow medium, and C4 as the Red soft.

Mexico is a mixed circuit with a wide variety of speeds and corners, as well as two very rapid straights and a twisty stadium section.

"Mexico has always been a tough and unpredictable race with a fantastic atmosphere: especially in the stadium section, where the drivers say that they can hear the fans cheering," explains Pirelli's head of F1, Mario Isola.

"There are some good overtaking opportunities over the course of the lap, and we've also seen a number of different strategic approaches in the past, as well as quite variable weather conditions.

"The altitude of Mexico City definitely affects the cars and the set-up, and this has a knock-on effect for the tyres as well.

"Even a high-downforce setting can feel like low downforce, so there can be a lot of sliding.

"Once more, we've brought a harder selection of compounds compared to last year: this should enable drivers to push the tyres to the maximum".

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sainz: 'F1 is trying to sell something we all know isn’t right'

Amid the mounting criticism of Formula 1’s new regulations, Carlos Sainz has accused the sport…

26 mins ago

Colapinto camp stepped in after Ocon clash to prevent death threats

Franco Colapinto’s management opted for an extraordinary defensive maneuver after the Alpine driver’s clash with…

14 hours ago

F1 The Movie wins Oscar for Best Sound

F1 The Movie took a victory lap on Sunday evening at the 98th Academy Awards,…

15 hours ago

Formula 1's first and last unofficial starter

German driver Hans Heyer was born on this day in 1943, and while his main…

17 hours ago

Stella confirms engine-related failures, but won’t blame Mercedes

McLaren endured a bitterly frustrating weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix as both of its…

18 hours ago

Kirkwood beats Palou to claim Arlington IndyCar glory

Kyle Kirkwood delivered a masterpiece on Sunday in the shadows of AT&T Stadium, proving that…

19 hours ago