This year’s cars are the fastest in the history of Formula 1 when it comes to lap speed, but because of higher air resistance they are not the fastest on straights – we bring a review of the highest speeds in the Mexican GP where Sebastian Vettel achieved record high top speed in this year’s Formula One championship.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is located at a very high altitude of 2250 meters, where the air is about 25% thinner, which means 25% less air for cooling and downforce creation. Also, air resistance is 25% smaller and the teams use aerodynamic packages for high downforce tracks such as Monaco and create very low drag figures, just like on track like Monza.
Last year, the car were travelling more than 370 km/h (the fastest Bottas recorded 372.5 km/h, Massa 371.7 km/h), and this year the cars are slower due to 25% wider tyres and much more downforce from wider wings and larger diffusers .
The higher air resistance is somewhat compensated by the increased engine power (which are at least 50 HP stronger this year), but the speeds are still lower than in 2016.
SPEED TRAP
Sebastian Vettel recorded speed of 362.4 km/h, which is 10.1 km/h slower than Bottas’ top speed in last year’s race.
Mercedes and Ferrari engines occupy eight out of ten positions on speed trap.
BEST SECTOR SPEEDS
BEST SECTOR TIMES
AUTODROMO HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ
FASTEST LAPS
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:18.785 | 68 | |
2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1:18.892 | 0.107 | 65 |
3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:19.374 | 0.589 | 70 |
4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:19.929 | 1.144 | 54 |
5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:19.945 | 1.160 | 69 |
6 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:20.054 | 1.269 | 59 |
7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1:20.345 | 1.560 | 64 |
8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:20.859 | 2.074 | 70 |
9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1:20.946 | 2.161 | 67 |
10 | 2 | S.Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1:20.972 | 2.187 | 66 |
11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:21.014 | 2.229 | 50 |
12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1:21.062 | 2.277 | 53 |
13 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:21.136 | 2.351 | 55 |
14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1:21.214 | 2.429 | 68 |
15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:21.360 | 2.575 | 34 |
16 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:21.638 | 2.853 | 56 |
17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:21.686 | 2.901 | 54 |
18 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:21.691 | 2.906 | 18 |
19 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:22.572 | 3.787 | 28 |
20 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1:22.789 | 4.004 | 4 |
IDEAL FASTEST LAPS
1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | 1:18.785 | |
2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | 1:18.829 | 0.044 |
3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 1:19.374 | 0.589 |
4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 1:19.500 | 0.715 |
5 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | 1:19.777 | 0.992 |
6 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | 1:19.802 | 1.017 |
7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | 1:20.241 | 1.456 |
8 | 2 | S.Vandoorne | 1:20.468 | 1.683 |
9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 1:20.470 | 1.685 |
10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 1:20.524 | 1.739 |
11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 1:20.674 | 1.889 |
12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 1:20.768 | 1.983 |
13 | 19 | Felipe Massa | 1:20.891 | 2.106 |
14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | 1:21.104 | 2.319 |
15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | 1:21.145 | 2.360 |
16 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | 1:21.394 | 2.609 |
17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:21.461 | 2.676 |
18 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | 1:21.501 | 2.716 |
19 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | 1:22.422 | 3.637 |
20 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 1:22.740 | 3.955 |