Organisers feeling confident ahead of sold-out event
Friday 10 July 2015 23:14, UK
Preparations for F1’s long-awaited return to Mexico in October are now “80% finished”, according to race organisers.
After a 23-year absence, the sport is returning to Mexico City at a heavily revamped Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with improvement work on the 4.314km track and facility having been ongoing since the event’s revival was announced in July of last year.
With less than four months to go until the opening practice sessions for the October 30-November 1 event, organisers are pleased with progress.
“There is a lot of excitement,” said Federico Gonzalez Compean of Mexican entertainment company CIE, the race’s promoter.
“After 23 years of absence there is a lot of excitement, not just in Mexico City but all across the country. People are counting the days and we are almost ready. We are 80 per cent finished with the construction, so we feel confident.”
The 100,000-plus tickets for the race quickly sold out when they went on sale earlier this year and Compean says officials are keen to ensure fans are treated to a memorable race weekend.
“We are focusing now on the experience people are going to have at the grand prix. It’s not only about the race, it’s about the experience and what people are expecting across the whole weekend,” he added.
“How we can get the city to embrace the race and the whole adventure of Formula 1 coming back to Mexico City.
“With the series we own, the Mexican NASCAR series, we sell about 100,000 tickets per year and with this one we almost sold that in the first issue of tickets. The challenge we have now is to sustain that. We can’t be like ‘OK we’re done for the next five years’. We are conscious that we have to focus on continuity.”
Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz recently demonstrated their respective Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars at a street event in Mexico City in front of over 150,000 spectators.
Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz travelled to Mexico City back in January to check in on preparations at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Watch his special Notebook below:
