Remembering the energy from 2021 Mexican Grand Prix

Nicole Fox shares her experience heading to one of the best races of the 2021 season.

I woke up about an hour before my alarm was set to go off, instantly alert and excited. Five months after buying my ticket, it was finally time. Today, I would attend the Gran Premio de la Cuidad de México 2021. 

I got dressed, putting on my Etsy bootleg Red Bull Racing t-shirt that had “11- Pérez” on the back. I made sure I had my ticket, money, subway tickets, extra battery, and headphones in my race day fanny pack (I forgot my sunscreen and paid the price). 

I left the house and walked the three blocks to the subway station. It was before noon on Sunday morning in Mexico City, which means no one was out yet. I went onto the empty subway station and waited for the first of the two trains that would take me to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. 

As the train made its way across the city, more and more race goers got on. While I spotted a few Ferrari and McClaren shirts, it was overwhelming the Sergio Pérez show. When it was time to transfer trains, I followed the sea of Red Bull shirts to the right platform. There were people wearing Checo t-shirts, Checo bracelets, and Checo hats. These fans had a fever and the only cure was more Checo…or at least a Checo podium.

The Mexico GP is a little different from most others in that you only have access to the designated area around your seat. I was in Zona Narajana, the second cheapest section that was located on the straight leading to corner 1 from the starting line. I was in Row 19, about halfway up the bleachers, with a nice clear view of the track. I arrived at the track around 10 am and the race didn’t start until 1 so I had some food, tried to hydrate, and took a ton of photos. 

The schedule said the drivers parade wasn’t until 11:40 but I was tired of wandering and went to my seat around 11. Thank goodness I did because the parade was early, starting only about 10 minutes after I sat down! It was a bit surreal to see the drivers in person, even from far away. As soon as the bus came into sight, everyone was chanting Checo’s name. He was smiling and filming on his own phone, a nice mirror to many of us in the crowd. The other drivers were waving but to the crowd, it was Checo and 19 of his friends. I made an impulsive decision to run down quickly to the merchandise stand to buy a Red Bull mariachi special edition shirt before going back to my seat.

A little while later, the cars started doing warm up laps, which I was not expecting. I was also not expecting what a full sensory experience the race would be — the cars were loud enough to send vibrations through your chest, the smell of burnt rubber got stronger as the day went on. I was able to take a few slo-mo videos of the cars as they did their laps, as well as some photos of the crowd and then all of a sudden, the cars were doing their formation lap. 

Sir Lewis Hamilton led the way and I definitely thought to myself, holy crap. You just saw the greatest driver of this era go by. When the #11 car went past us, everyone was on their feet and screaming. There was a big screen across the track from the stands that showed the official F1 broadcast and we saw the lights go out and then we all immediately looked to our right to see the cars screaming down the straight. The sound was tremendous and it looked so chaotic and terrifying and it was over in a flash. 

We saw the mess of the first chicane on the big screen and the stewards across from us waving red flags. For the next five or so laps, the safety car was on but that stopped no one from cheering on Checo. When the racing began in earnest again, Max Verstappen peeled off into the distance, leaving everyone ages behind. We had no information about intervals and reception was weak, so I was reduced to counting as soon as Max passed, “one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi…” until Hamilton would pass. 

The guy next to me thought Red Bull would try to have Checo undercut Hamilton and we were very confused why that didn’t happen. They seemed so close whenever they passed up. It was incredibly hot in the stands, though the temperature was only 75 F. I could feel my skin burning/tanning and used my new shirt to at least shield my legs from the stand. 

The Checo chants never fully stopped, instead alternating through the sections of our grandstand, punctuated by la ola. Olé olé olé olé Checo, Checoooooooo and Viejo Sabroso to the tune of 7 Nation Army. When the race was over, someone a few rows down set off a green flare and everyone was pumped that Checo actually made it onto the podium — the first time a Mexican driver has done it at the home Grand Prix. When the big screen showed Max celebrating with the Mexican flag, everyone went crazy and started changing “¡Verstappen, hermano, tú eres mexicano!” (Verstappen, brother, you’re Mexican!) 

I left the autodromo in a bit of a daze. I was sunburned, dehydrated, and didn’t know it but was about to be hit with a giant sinus infection that would turn into bronchitis. Honestly, I didn’t know how to even begin processing the experience.

I got home to New York a couple days later and immediately had to get back into the grad student grind while also fairly sick. This meant that it has taken me three weeks to sit down and write about this experience and reflect on everything. I looked through photos to jog my memory and to relive certain moments but what really stood out was the adoration of Checo. Now, a lot of that is due to simple national pride. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans almost always default to the Mexican, especially if they are the only person representing the country in a particular sport. That’s absolutely why I was immediately drawn to Checo when I started watching F1 this year, even before I made it to the Man on Fire episode of Drive to Survive season 3. 

There’s something else, though. Checo left Mexico when he was a teenager to race in Germany. He left his family, his whole life behind to go to a country where he didn’t speak the language, where he didn’t know a soul, to pursue a future that wasn’t possible in Mexico. That resonates deeply with me and a whole lot of other Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Six years before Checo left Guadalajara for Germany, I became the first in my family to attend university, flying off to a college across the country from every person I knew. Despite his enormous wealth and privilege now, he was like so many of us, leaving home to chase a dream. 

That was my experience at the Mexican GP. I can’t wait to do it again.

Nicole is a preschool teacher and doctoral student living in New York City. In the middle of a very important two week exam, she binged three seasons of Drive To Survive and fell hard for Formula 1 racing. Several Checo t-shirts and a subscription to F1TV later, Nicole is in deep! She is partial to Red Bull and McClaren, has deep admiration for Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, and is fascinated by pit strategy. She is an out and proud Sergio Pérez stan. 

You can find her at @nicole713 on Twitter and @foxnews713 on Instagram