Five unforgettable Mexico City Grand Prix including Nigel Mansell vs Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost

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The Mexico City Grand Prix has been a sporadic part of the Formula 1 calendar since 1963, so F1 Oversteer has taken a look at five of its most unforgettable races to date.

Various reasons through the years have caused Formula 1 to stay away from the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez set in the heart of Mexico City. Yet F1 revived the race after 23 years in 2015. It was originally called the Mexican Grand Prix but edited in 2021 due to local funding.

Yet either while holding rounds called the Mexican GP or the Mexico City GP, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez became steeped in F1 history. But one of its major characteristics did not survive the race’s return in 2015 as F1 had become too fast for the fearsome Peraltada.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez reconfigured its Grand Prix circuit for the revival of the Mexican GP with a baseball stadium replacing the Peraltada final corner. But the race is rare as the Mexico City GP is the F1 race run at the highest altitude at 7,340 feet above sea level.

Mexican F1 fans are a major reason for what makes the Mexico City GP stand out with their colour and passion very vibrant. But fan trouble also blighted the 1970 Mexican GP and saw F1 pull it until 1986 as spectators destroyed the trackside fencing to get closer to the circuit.

Thankfully, lots of editions of the race – either as the Mexican Grand Prix or the Mexico City Grand Prix – have yielded unforgettable races for positive reasons. So, with that in mind, F1 Oversteer has taken a look at five of the most unforgettable Mexico City Grand Prix to date.

Ferrari use team orders for John Surtees to win the 1964 F1 title at the Mexican Grand Prix

Formula 1 awarded the Mexican Grand Prix the final round of the 1964 season and even saw a three-way title fight between John Surtees, Graham Hill and Jim Clark run the distance. Hill arrived at what was still called the Magdalena Mixhuca leading the standings by five points.

All Hill needed to win his second drivers’ championship was third place if Surtees finished in second or anything would do if his British compatriot finished third or lower and Clark could only achieve as high as P2. Yet, in the end, all Hill could manage was a frustrating 11th place.

Clark was the early pace-setter as the Briton sealed pole position knowing he had to win the 1964 Mexican GP and hope that Hill and Surtees were, at best, fourth and third. It was going nicely for Clark, too, after Lorenzo Bandini and Hill collided whilst fighting over third place.

Bandini barged into the rear of Hill’s BRM and it left him with a damaged exhaust pipe and losing power. But from having the 1964 drivers’ title within his reach, disaster awaited Clark on the penultimate lap when the Lotus driver’s engine seized and forced the end to his race.

Knowing that the championship would thus be Hill’s as Dan Gurney led Bandini and Surtees, Ferrari frantically urged the Italian to slow as he started the final lap of the 1964 Mexican GP and let the Briton through. P2 thus secured Surtees the 1964 title by just one point over Hill.

Graham Hill beat Jackie Stewart and Denny Hulme to the 1968 F1 title at the Mexican GP

The Mexican Grand Prix remained the final round of the Formula 1 calendar from 1964 until 1970, with the United States Grand Prix securing the spot in 1971. F1 also saw the 1968 title fight run to the Mexican GP as Hill avenged 1964 at Jackie Stewart and Denny Hulme’s pain.

Hill left the 1968 US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen with a three-point lead over Stewart in the drivers’ championship heading into the Mexican GP. Like in 1964, a podium finish would be enough if his compatriot failed to win, and fourth or fifth if neither Stewart nor Hulme won.

Qualifying put Hill on the verge of the title, too, as Jo Siffert stunned the field to secure pole by four-tenths of a second to Chris Amon, whilst the champion-elect and Hulme took third and fourth. Stewart in P7 was 1.47s off the pace during qualifying for the 1968 Mexican GP.

But Siffert and Amon started slowly, so Hill launched into the lead and he regained P1 after the quick-starting Surtees swept through. Stewart also struggled to retain the lead with Hill constantly fighting back whenever he fell down the order. Hulme retired on just Lap 11, too.

A rear-suspension failure saw Hulme crash out of the 1968 Mexican GP and the title fight as Hill and Stewart continued to fight over race and absolute glory. But Stewart’s search for his first crown came to an early end as a fuel feed problem saw the Scot drop down to seventh.

Stewart and Hulme’s woes at the 1968 Mexican GP saw Hill win the race by 1:19.32 ahead of Bruce McLaren to take the Englishman’s second and last championship title. New Zealander Hulme never added to his 1967 crown, while Stewart won the title in 1969, 1971 and 1973.

Nigel Mansell won the 1987 Mexican GP on cumulative time ahead of Nelson Piquet

F1 agreed to return to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 1986 as the Mexican GP came back after 16 years. It was not long before the track, known throughout its history for having an exceptionally bumpy surface, was back creating unforgettable Mexican Grand Prix, either.

The 1987 Mexican Grand Prix proved to be a peculiar race for Formula 1 as it was ultimately staged in two phases after Derek Warwick heavily crashed his Arrows A10 on L26 exiting the Peraltada. An earlier crash with Satoru Nakajima of Lotus had damaged his rear suspension.

With the race stopped due to Warwick’s crash, it was decided to run a de-facto second race from which the result would be combined with the standings at the time of the suspension. The unusual format would see Nelson Piquet Sr fail to win, despite winning the second part.

Contact with Alain Prost on the first lap of the initial start delayed Piquet whilst his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell dominated to lead by 30 seconds at the stoppage. The margin was enough to see Mansell beat Piquet by 26.176s on cumulative time come the final standings.

The result further moved Mansell to within 12 points of Piquet in the drivers’ championship through 14 of the 16 rounds. But his title hopes came to an abrupt end during qualifying for the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix when Mansell crashed and would not start the last two races.

Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna fight to win the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix

Mansell was also in the thick of the action in 1990 as the Mexican GP yielded another race for F1’s history books. But the race did not finish as positively for the Briton as in 1987 and started with Mansell in fourth, behind Gerhard Berger, Riccardo Patrese and Ayrton Senna.

Piquet and Thierry Boutsen even found a way through Mansell to capitalise as Patrese fell back. Only then did Mansell begin to make progress as he picked off Patrese and Boutsen, before jumping back ahead of Piquet on Lap 36 whilst also soon closely followed by Prost.

Prost made sensational progress after a tough qualifying for the 1990 Mexican GP had left the Frenchman starting in P17. The Ferrari driver had favoured a more race-focused set-up than his rivals and it worked like magic to pass Mansell on Lap 55 and set after rival Senna.

Senna could seldom fight back after leading most of the 1990 Mexican GP and his race fell apart with a late puncture, just as Mansell also spun with four laps remaining. His incident left Mansell fighting Berger just to finish in second and needing one of the great overtakes.

Berger briefly looked likely to disrupt Ferrari’s one-two and secure McLaren the second spot on the 1990 Mexican GP podium. But Mansell refused to lose out to the Austrian and made a move for the ages around the outside at the Peraltada and held on to seal the silver spoon.

Max Verstappen pulls a double overtake to lead Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Mexico City GP

The changes Formula 1 obliged the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to make for the series to return in 2015 have meant the Mexican Grand Prix has seldom sparked the same sort of unforgettable races as its past. But the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix yielded a real highlight.

F1 headed for the 2021 Mexico City GP amid a fierce title fight between Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Red Bull ace Max Verstappen, who led the way by 12 points. Qualifying then gave Hamilton a chance to eat into his deficit as the Silver Arrows locked out the front row.

But Verstappen took full advantage of the substantial slipstream down the long pit straight to scupper Hamilton’s plans. The Dutchman flew around the outside into Turn 1 to go from third place into the race lead as pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas fully backed out of a three-wide fight.

Hamilton had the inside line for Turn 1 and would have hoped his teammate Bottas put up a bigger fight when Verstappen flung his car in around the outside. But the Finn yielded and let the Dutchman turn in unchallenged for a crucial move which also ultimately returned a win.

Verstappen went on to dominate the 2021 Mexico City GP and beat Hamilton by 16.555s, while the Mercedes driver also had to dig deep to fend off home hero Sergio Perez in the closing laps. The Guadalajara native came home in third a mere 1.197s behind the Briton.