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.

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u/DeliriousDecay21 Oct 26 '24

Thank you for all the context! That makes more sense why it's so difficult to keep the track clean

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u/ffffff52 Oct 26 '24

yup, the problem is generated by the city itself and in full honestly it's the main reason I would not travel there unless I really had to, sometimes I have come back with a sore throat/nose from just the exposure to that level of contamination.

I swear the smog dome sometimes looks like its expanding beyond the volcanoes/mountains now lol (check any sat images for context if needed )

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u/dragonlax Oct 27 '24

I think that’s a little harsh. CDMX is a beautiful city with incredible people, culture, and food. Like you said, China is way worse. I’ve been to both Beijing and CDMX, would go back to CDMX 10/10 times over Beijing.

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u/ffffff52 Oct 27 '24

well that's your opinion, I never mentioned any of those aspects you praise and are not relevant to my point and the fact of CDMX been really contaminated.