Cooling requirement: How did teams optimize their cars for the Mexico City Grand Prix?
Formula 1's Mexican Grand Prix has its own unique set-up requirements thanks to itslocation's altitude of 2240m above sea level. The air density that is reduced by roughly 25% forces teams to come up with large cooling configurations to meet the reliability requirements.
Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is one of the most unique tracks on the F1 schedule. The Mexican circuit belongs to the group of relatively short tracks with its length of 4.304 kilometres. It means that driver will need to complete a total of 71 laps to cover the entire race distance.
However, its main peculiarity is its altitude, which at over 2,200 metres above sea level means the air is very rarefied. Therefore the cars generate less downforce, making car set-up and technical management particularly demanding for the teams.
Mexico’s 2,285-meter altitude means that air density is 20.7% lower than at sea level. Lower air density, and therefore less oxygen, means that everything suffers - although, as ever, some cars suffer more than others.
As a result of this unique location, cars generate a lot less downforce, and cooling is also much less effective. Due to the less air density, the air has less cooling effect which means that both engine and brake cooling tend to be very marginal at Mexico.
The layout and the long start-finish straight would require less loaded rear wing, but the air density makes the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez a maximum downforce setup track. However, the altitude means that cranking on Monaco-spec wing levels still gives top speeds higher than Monza.
Asked to explain what it means to drive in thin air, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc noted that it presents a huge difference, mainly in terms of cooling.
"That makes obviously a big difference for the downforce and for the cooling. So in terms of downforce, you have a lot less downforce compared to a normal track at sea level altitude, which means that you slide a lot more. And then for the cooling, it's a lot more difficult to actually cool the brakes, the engine. It's very difficult.
"And for us as well, the heart rate goes a little bit higher compared to other races, but it's not the most tiring and physical racetrack on that side.
"It's not that much of a problem. However, for the car, it's a very tough race for the car most especially for the cooling. So this will be obviously the main topic for this weekend.
