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Ahead of the 2026 Mexico
City Grand Prix, Paul Williams, Chief Trackside Engineer, shares insights
into the key technical factors that will shape the weekend.
What are the key
technical challenges of Mexico City?
• At around 2,200m, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is the highest
altitude circuit we visit. The thin air strips both downforce and drag
from the car, so despite three long straights and very high
end-of-straight speeds, this is effectively a maximum-downforce track.
• The layout combines three low-speed sections with a high-speed sequence
from Turn 7-11. Frequent changes of direction at both high and low speed,
along with significant camber and crowning changes, particularly in the
second sector, can unsettle the car.
• Cooling is a constraint. Brake
energy is only moderate, but brake and power unit cooling are difficult in
the thin air, and the car typically runs close to its operating limits,
especially when following other cars.
• The track has been resurfaced
for 2026 from Turn 16-1 and from T7-16, so the roughness and grip of the
new asphalt are the biggest unknowns of the weekend. A darker surface
could also lead to larger track temperature swings between sessions.
How do the 2026 regulations
influence the approach this weekend?
• Altitude is as challenging
as ever for the power unit, with difficulty building turbo boost and high
levels of torque infilling expected.
• We expect to be at, or very
close to, full deployment in both qualifying and the race, with three SLM
zones. Running at the top of the battery window increases the risk of poor
torque infilling.
What are the tyre
challenges of the circuit?
• Pirelli has nominated its softest
compounds: C3 (hard), C4 (medium) and C5 (soft). The hard is one step
softer than in 2025, and the softer compounds are expected to perform
well.
• The resurfacing is the biggest unknown for the tyres. The
roughness and grip of the new asphalt will determine both the graining
risk and how difficult warm-up proves to be.
• Tyre preparation is
notoriously difficult here, and the resurfacing adds further uncertainty,
so we expect run plans to vary across the field in qualifying. Finding the
right warm-up profile could be worth several tenths. Hard out-laps
will be required, and build laps may be needed to prepare the tyres.
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During the Grand Prix, low aerodynamic loads at altitude mean bulk
temperatures will be low, with degradation driven by overheating of the
rear surface. Wear will be rear-limited because of the traction demands,
but the new surface creates a possible graining risk.
What are the strategic
considerations for the race?
• Mexico is a difficult circuit for
overtaking, partly because the power unit and brakes overheat quickly in
traffic at altitude, so we expect teams to put more emphasis on
qualifying.
• The race is expected to be a two-stop on the medium and
soft compounds. If graining is more severe than expected, the hard will
come into play, while even a small reduction in degradation would move the
whole field to a one-stop.
• Interventions are very likely. The VSC
rate to date is 70% and the Safety Car rate is 50%, and every race in
Mexico has seen at least one intervention.
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