Mexican Grand Prix “often an unpredictable race” – Pirelli’s Mario Isola

This weekend’s return of the Mexican Grand Prix see’s the start of the final triple-header of the season, with both championships still all to play for at the strategically unpredictable Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit.

The Mexican Grand Prix was another race which was cancelled in 2020 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, however nothing can stop this weekend’s trip to Mexico City from taking place!

Pirelli have opted for the medium range of their tyres to be used this weekend, with the C2, C3 and C4 compounds in operation. The same compounds were used in 2019. The same tyres were used last time out at the Circuit of the Americas, although the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit is considerably smoother than the American venue.

The track which sits at the highest altitude to be raced on this season, may be particularly slippery during Friday’s sessions, the circuit has seen very little running during the pandemic.

Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli, is expecting the weekend to throw up a number of challenges for the teams and drivers.

“The high altitude in particular, as well as the circuit layout itself, always throws up a number of interesting challenges and surprises in Mexico, so it’s often an unpredictable race with a wide variety of strategic options. Last time, the medium and the hard were the main tyres that the teams focussed on during the race: depending on the amount of graining and sliding seen on the soft, this might be the case again this year.

“So understanding the performance gap between the soft and the medium will be key for qualifying. Mexico is a historic and exciting circuit, so after a two-year absence, we’re delighted to be heading back. The race is held at roughly the same time of year as it was two seasons ago and there are no significant track alterations since then – apart from one small bit of resurfacing before Turn 1 to level out a bump – but the cars have changed a lot so it’s hard to say if the data from 2019 is still relevant.”