r/F1Technical • u/DeliriousDecay21 • Oct 26 '24
Circuit Why is Mexico always so dusty?
I get that the circuit is not used year around and since the circuit is in the city there may be dust/debris from the city hustle. But why isn't there an effort to clean the track via street sweeps or run support series say the weekend before or the same week? I feel like with the altitude and cooling issues there is already enough challenges. Why don't F1 make a better effort to make sure the track is ready for these cars?
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u/ffffff52 Oct 26 '24 edited Oct 26 '24
As mexican I can clue you in on some of the reasons (I live on the other side of the volcanoes sometimes visible in ambient shots):
1- CDMX is a MASSIVE city with a impressive problem with air contamination (not China/India bad but still bad) and that contributes to the track getting more dust than usual and the city, as many in México, lacks large green areas or sufficient greenery in general so that doesnt help either.
2- Colder weather (like the one we had recently around the middle of the country) tends to create conditions where it creates an "smog dome" above CDMX making the problem in point 1 worse and its something I can see even from my city or if you ever fly to there you could also see a brownish change of colour in the air during ascend/descend stages.
3- We had had a increased amount of "dust" everywhere around the central valley thanks to the very active volcano exhaling ash continuously for nearly a year now.
4- As often mentioned, the track isnt used that often and only the stadium section can be considered as "active" year round but not for racing.