Mexican Grand Prix
| Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez | |
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| Race information | |
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| Number of times held | 18 |
| First held | 1962 |
| Most wins (drivers) |  Jim Clark (3) |
| Most wins (constructors) | Lotus (4) |
| Circuit length | 4.304 km (2.674 mi) |
| Race length | 305.541 km (189.854 mi) |
| Laps | 71 |
| Last race (2016) | |
| Pole position | |
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| Podium | |
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| Fastest lap | |
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The Mexican Grand Prix (Spanish: Gran Premio de México) is an FIA-sanctioned auto race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. It first appeared as a non-championship event in 1962 before being held as a championship event from 1963-1970 and 1986-1992. The Grand Prix returned in 2015 at the Mexico City circuit.
The Mexican Grand Prix was first held on 4 November 1962 at the Magdalena Mixhuca circuit. The circuit was the first international racetrack in Mexico and was built within a park in the center part of capital city of Mexico City. The race provided unique challenges for racing, standing at 2,240 (7,340 ft) above sea level, as well as the long, 180 degree, lightly banked and fast Peraltada corner that finishes the lap, in addition to being a bumpy racetrack from actively shifting soils beneath the circuit. The Mexican Grand Prix of this period was always the season finale Grand Prix, held in late October.
The first race, a non-championship affair which attracted a strong international entry, was won by Team Lotus with Jim Clark taking over the car of team mate Trevor Taylor to claim the win; Clark was black-flagged after receiving a push-start at a confused race start. The meeting was marred by the death of young Mexican star Ricardo Rodríguez who as a teenager was already a works Ferrari driver. Rodriguez died after injuries received crashing a Rob Walker run Lotus 24 on the Peraltada. The Formula One World Championship arrived the following year with Clark winning again, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio's record of most victories in a single season. 1964 saw the battle for both the drivers and constructor's championships. British drivers Clark, John Surtees and Graham Hill all arrived with a chance, with Hill leading the table; and Ferrari, BRM and Lotus were in contention for the constructors championship. The race started with Clark leading from pole position, with American Dan Gurney, Italian Lorenzo Bandini, Hill, and Surtees. Bandini and Hill were battling, and Bandini then ran into the back of Hill's car, causing him problems. Then, on the very last lap, Clark's engine seized, and Gurney took the lead, with Bandini second and Surtees third. The Ferrari team signaled Bandini to let his teammate Surtees through, which he did, and Surtees finished second behind Gurney and won the championship by one point over Hill, and Ferrari won the constructor's championship; Clark finished fifth. 1965 saw American Richie Ginther take victory for Honda, the Japanese company's first Formula One victory. 1967 saw Clark win his third Mexican Grand Prix, the most prolific winner of the race to this day. 1968 once again saw three men go into the race with a chance of winning the driver's championship. Hill, his countryman Jackie Stewart and New Zealander and defending world champion Denny Hulme. The race was a straight fight between Hill and Stewart; the Scotsman leading for several laps until Hill passed him. Hulme was running third, but he had a rear suspension failure and crashed on Lap 11. Swiss Jo Siffert decided to get in on the mix and took the lead, but he had to pit with a broken throttle cable. Stewart then fell back with when his engine started to misfire, his car's handling was going off and the car also had a fuel-feed problem. But Hill had no problems; and took victory and his second driver's championship. The race continued until 1970 when it was dropped from the calendar. An enormous crowd of approximately 200,000 arrived to see Pedro Rodríguez, but officials struggled to control the crowd and at one point a dog ran across the track and was hit by Stewart.
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