Mexican Grand Prix - Early Races

Early Races

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 capital city of Mexico City. The race provided rare challenges racing at high-altitude and the challenge of the large 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 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 first win after 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. Despite this, 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. 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 with at one point a dog running across the track and was hit by Jackie Stewart. Clark won the race again in 1967, his three wins establishing himself as the most prolific winner of the race to this day.