2015 Mexican Grand Prix - Mexico City, Oct 30 - Nov 1

[Nathanael F1]

2015 Tyres - Medium and Soft

[godlameroso]

There's 3 very long high speed straights, Mercedes powered cars will have an incredible advantage here. 350kph is possible with DRS and toe coming out of the final corner. Apart from that, there's the usual Tilke slow tricky corners, lot of corner combinations with only one line through, although there is a very nice high speed section before driving through the stadium. Hopefully the curbs will be a lot less forgiving the games are portraying.

[hollus]

Elevation: 2285m.
With air density being ~76% of its sea level value, cars can go 9% faster before drag consumes the same power as at sea level. And with turbo engines, power will only be very slightly down.
There might be potential for Monza-like top speeds even if the teams choose to run extra wing angles to compensate for the thin air. And if someone runs a Monza-like setup... One can dream!

Come to think of it, cooling capacity will also be down by 24%. We might see some interesting compromises here.

[Vasconia]

It looks like a very fast track, which I really like it. Chances for overtaking there?

What about the weather??

[CBeck113]

Elevation: 2285m.
With air density being ~76% of its sea level value, cars can go 9% faster before drag consumes the same power as at sea level. And with turbo engines, power will only be very slightly down.
There might be potential for Monza-like top speeds even if the teams choose to run extra wing angles to compensate for the thin air. And if someone runs a Monza-like setup... One can dream!

Come to think of it, cooling capacity will also be down by 24%. We might see some interesting compromises here.

Don't forget the power loss due to the air density, this will also play a major role: stoichiometric combustion will need to be adjusted, so the engines which can compensate best for the air loss will have a major advantage. I believe that we can learn more about the engines from this race than most others.

[WaikeCU]

Could imagine STR running a low drag setup perhaps, but this is not like Monza kinda track. Feels more like a mix of Fuji, Silverstone and Istanbul.

[f1316]

Really looking forward to this one, seems like an interesting track in a location with a passionate fan base. Stadium section seems visually cool.

Looks to me like, bar Friday, the weather's going to be changeable though. I would like to see how the Ferrari (with supposedly less thirsty PU) would fair here vs the Mercedes in the dry but looks like practice might be the only opportunity for that.

Still, if it rains and we get a race like last week, who's complaining?

[godlameroso]

Could imagine STR running a low drag setup perhaps, but this is not like Monza kinda track. Feels more like a mix of Fuji, Silverstone and Istanbul.

I feel it's more of a Monza, Canada like track. Whatever package worked well in Canada will work well here.

[turbof1]

Elevation: 2285m.
With air density being ~76% of its sea level value, cars can go 9% faster before drag consumes the same power as at sea level. And with turbo engines, power will only be very slightly down.
There might be potential for Monza-like top speeds even if the teams choose to run extra wing angles to compensate for the thin air. And if someone runs a Monza-like setup... One can dream!

Come to think of it, cooling capacity will also be down by 24%. We might see some interesting compromises here.

It also means less downforce, so they'll probably run higher-then-expected downforce configurations.

[Moose]

Elevation: 2285m.
With air density being ~76% of its sea level value, cars can go 9% faster before drag consumes the same power as at sea level. And with turbo engines, power will only be very slightly down.
There might be potential for Monza-like top speeds even if the teams choose to run extra wing angles to compensate for the thin air. And if someone runs a Monza-like setup... One can dream!

Come to think of it, cooling capacity will also be down by 24%. We might see some interesting compromises here.

Don't forget the power loss due to the air density, this will also play a major role

As we saw in Brazil last year - Air pressure does very little to this generation of engines. They lose a tiny bit of power, but not close to what the V8s (or earlier) did.

[Moose]

It also means less downforce, so they'll probably run higher-then-expected downforce configurations.

But does it doepn't change the downforce to drag ratio. Both drag and downforce are linearly related to air density.

[PlatinumZealot]

It is 71 laps in thin air. Athletes usually need a full week or two of training to adjust their bodies to the air of Mexico city. Why not F1 drivers?

[turbof1]

It is 71 laps in thin air. Athletes usually need a full week or two of training to adjust their bodies to the air of Mexico city. Why not F1 drivers?

It's the VO2 max. Athletes have their aerobic respiration finetuned to normal oxygen density, to their V02 max. With less oxygen they will not be able to hold on to their normal V02 max if not adapted properly: they simply have less oxygen in their body to burn.

This is not so much an issue for F1 drivers. Whereas normal endurance athletes need to push the body on a constant rithm for a prolonged time, F1 drivers have much more emphasise on short, powerful pulses in the muscles (primary the neck and back muscles). These are more of anearobic nature: they burn fat, proteins and sugars just like the aerobic system, but without the oxygen. This does leave the body with waste product (lactic acid) which needs to be cleared out of the muscles and hence why this is not possible to use in a long, constant effort. F1 drivers do have moments where their bodies can relax for a moment and get the lactic acid produced by the anaerobic burning out of the muscles, like a straight or perhaps even very slow corners. However, you still need to train this, as any normal person will face the situation where his muscles cannot clear the lactic acid fast enough. F1 drivers are conditioned to do this.

Compare it with a 100m sprint vs a marathon. a 100m sprinter will not need to adapt to the lower oxygen levels as the nature of the sport requires a powerful and quick supply of energy. Efficiency is not needed, so the body will burn purely anaerobic. A Marathon athlete however cannot do this and the body will switch to the aerobic system, which is slower but more energy efficient.

[Vasconia]

Really looking forward to this one, seems like an interesting track in a location with a passionate fan base. Stadium section seems visually cool.

Looks to me like, bar Friday, the weather's going to be changeable though. I would like to see how the Ferrari (with supposedly less thirsty PU) would fair here vs the Mercedes in the dry but looks like practice might be the only opportunity for that.

Still, if it rains and we get a race like last week, who's complaining?

Thats great!! light rain is enough to have a great race. Because if it rains more we will spent the hole race after the safety car or even worse, with a red flag.

Track looks great and Mexican fans will create a great atmosphere.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Very fast track and F1 needs more of that instead of the slow Abu Dhabi's S3 type circuits, can't wait.