Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

The **Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez** is a 4.304 km (2.674 mi) motorsport race track in Mexico City, Mexico, named after the racing drivers Ricardo (1942–1962) and Pedro Rodríguez (1940–1971). The circuit got its name shortly after it opened when Ricardo Rodríguez died in practice for the non-Championship 1962 Mexican Grand Prix. Ricardo's brother Pedro was also killed behind the wheel nine years later. Since 2015, the track has once again hosted the Formula OneMexican Grand Prix, an event it previously hosted in two separate periods on a different layout, the last occasion of which was in 1992.

The circuit is located within the public park of the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City in southeast Mexico City. The circuit is owned by the Government of the City, but is currently operated under concession by Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE) through OCESA, one of CIE's subsidiaries. CIE also organizes the NASCAR and Desafío Corona races in this circuit and rents the circuits to other parties, including race organizers, automobile clubs and track amateurs for fees that are controversial due to their disproportionately high amounts compared to other ex-F1 courses.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series started racing at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the 2005 season and ended in the 2008 season. Martin Truex Jr. won the race in 2005, and Denny Hamlin won in 2006. For the 2007 race, the chicane was removed to increase passing opportunities down the front straight and into turn 1, and Juan Pablo Montoya from Bogotá, Colombia, won the race. Kyle Busch was the winner of the race in 2008.

The A1 Grand Prix series started racing at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the 2006–07 season using the full-track configuration used by Formula One. Alex Yoong from Malaysiawon the sprint race and Oliver Jarvis from the United Kingdomwon the feature race. In the 2007–08 season, Jonny Reid from New Zealand won the sprint race and Adam Carroll of Team Ireland won the feature race.

## History

Built in the Magdalena Mixhuca public park in 1959, the circuit hosted its first Formula OneGrand Prix in 1962, as a non-Championship race. The following year the Mexican Grand Prix became a full World Championship event. The circuit remained part of the F1 calendar through 1970, when spectator overcrowding caused unsafe conditions. When F1 returned in 1986, the circuit boasted a new pit complex, as well as improved safety all around, but left again after 1992 due to safety concerns.

In 2001 CIE and Forsythe Racing tasked D3 Motorsport Development with revamping the circuit. A redesign to include the Foro and a complete upgrade of the circuit was done. It saw a record crowd of 402,413 people attend a round of the CART Championship in 2002.

It was announced in May 2012, that the circuit would again host the Mexican Grand Prix from 2013, in a five-year deal that would see it replace the European Grand Prix in Valencia, but this did not happen. The FIA listed the Mexican Grand Prix as the 19th round of the provisional schedule for the 2014 season, but it was not on the final schedule. The Mexican Grand Prix was listed on the 2015 Formula One calendar published by the FIA on 3 December 2014, with Formula One making its return to the circuit with the race on 1 November 2015.

The racetrack is also home to Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC Mexico), a music festival attended by over 200,000 people.

## The Grand Prix circuit

link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aut%C3%B3dromo\_Hermanos\_Rodr%C3%ADguez,\_June\_4,\_2018\_SkySat\_(cropped).jpg|left|thumb|Satellite view of the circuit, as it appeared in 2018
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand-Am\_Rolex\_Series\_Mexico\_2008.jpg%7Calt=%7Cleft%7Cthumb%7C220x220px%7CGrand-Am Rolex Series taking a bypass from turn 4 to turn 8]]
Designed as his thesisby student Óscar Fernández in 1953,the circuit has an elevation of 2,238 m (7,342 ft); the thin air causes difficulties for both the drivers and their cars.[*citation needed*]It also reduces the levels of aerodynamic drag that cars experience, meaning that higher downforce setups can be used with less impact on straight-line speed.

The circuit has an extremely fast final corner (the *Peraltada*, turn 17) before a long start/finish straight, and thus reminded some of Monza; however, unlike Monza's *Parabolica* curve, the *Peraltada* curve is slightly banked, allowing even more speed through the corner. It was at this corner that the younger Rodríguez crashed, due to suspension failure. After the last F1 Mexican Grand Prix in 1992, a baseball stadium called the *"Foro"* was built on the inner part of this curve. When the Champ Car series began using the track in 2002, the *Peraltada* curve was partially bypassed by a series of sharp turns entering and exiting the *Foro*; re-entering the *Peraltada* halfway through.

After the Peraltada comes the long 1.2 km front straight. During the original turbo era in Formula One the faster cars were regularly clocking speeds of up to 330 km/h (205 mph) on the straight.

In the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series season, there was a chicane on the main straightaway to slow the cars down. They also introduced a curve between the short course and the Ese del Lago to bypass the latter, but avoiding the stadium detour.

The Grand Prix circuit underwent a significant renovation under the direction of Hermann Tilke for the return of Formula One in 2015. The front straight was slightly extended and reprofiled to accommodate a new media center and paddock. The iconic esses between turns 7 and 13 were significantly modified; the prolific, high radius turns largely diminished and some replaced with fixed angle turns. The baseball field portion of the track was also altered to a low-speed left-right combination that bypassed the first half of the Peraltada, allowing the cars to re-enter the Peraltada halfway through the corner. At 4.304 kilometres (2.674 mi), the course is 170 metres (560 ft) shorter than the previous Grand Prix layout, and Mexican Grand Prixorganizers predicted lap times of around 75 seconds and speeds in excess of 328 km/h (204 mph) for the current turbocharged Formula One cars, which eliminate the adverse effects of altitude present in naturally aspirated cars.However, the modern V6 hybrid turbo F1 cars actually managed to reach top speeds in excess of 370 km/h (230 mph) down the main straight.