McLaren heads straight to Mexico City for Round 19 of F1 2018.

Stoffel's Race Engineer, Tom, talks us through the challenges of setting up a car for the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and its high altitude. 

 

	Braking	The cars spend 16s per lap on the brakes. The hardest deceleration is into Turn One, where the cars slow from 354km/h (220mph) to 106km/h (66mph) in just 70 metres, with a peak longitudinal force of 4.2g. The high altitude makes brake cooling one of the trickiest engineering conundrums of the season.
	Power units	The cars use 1.4kg of fuel per lap, with 47 per cent spent on full throttle.
	Aero	High downforce. The cars run maximum downforce yet produce less aerodynamic grip than at Monza, due to the thinner air at high altitude. The reduced drag from the cars results in some of the highest top speeds of the year along the pit straight.
	Gaming	The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a slow racetrack; only two of the 17 corners are taken at more than 200km/h (124mph). Yet the cars produce less downforce than at Monza, so slow-speed grip is minimal and that makes it difficult to control the cars. It’s very important to be precise with your steering and pedal inputs, particularly through the slowest corners, where the cars rely on the tyres for mechanical grip. And don’t get distracted by the crowd in the 40,000-seat stadium; it’s an incredible amphitheatre to watch F1 cars.