Bienvenido de nuevo! Formula 1 returns to Mexico
The residents of Mexico City will be woken by an unusual alarm clock this weekend.
For the first time in 23 years, the country will be home to a Formula 1 race and this time, the drivers won't be the ones who have most at stake.
The return of Mexico's Grand Prix is part of a bid to boost the standing of the country that has long had a reputation for being somewhat sleepy and economically impoverished. An F1 race puts it on the global sporting map alongside developed nations and trading partners like the United States and Britain.
Tavo Hellmund, the American entrepreneur who was the mastermind behind the US GP in Austin and its track, the Circuit of the Americas, is one of the driving forces behind the Mexican race. He believes it is on track to attract a 120,000-strong crowd and beat all previous attendance records.
But he admits that its reappearance on the F1 calendar is down to luck as much as desire.
"All of the stars have aligned to bring F1 back to Mexico as we have two hugely talented athletes flying the flag in the form of Ferrari's test driver Esteban Gutiérrez and Sergio Perez at the wheel for Force India.
"We also have Enrique Pena Nieto, a dynamic young president who is passionate about motorsport and has provided the support needed to give the race a green light."
Price worth paying
The Mexican GP first raced onto the F1 calendar in 1963 and became a fan-favourite thanks to memorable on-track action, including victories by British world champion Nigel Mansell. He famously passed Austrian driver Gerhard Berger on the outside of the sweeping Peraltada corner in 1990 and won the country's final grand prix two years later.
British driver Nigel Mansell won the Mexican Grand Prix twice, taking the flag in 1987 and 1992
The race dropped off the F1 calendar because the city centre track, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, fell into disrepair. At the same time that upgrades were needed, Mexico was being priced out of F1.
An increasing number of emerging markets were attracted to the sport and their governments were prepared to pay top dollar to host an F1 race, promoting themselves to the sport's global television audience that hit 425 million people last year.
This drove up the F1 race-hosting fee, with Mexico understood to be paying $25m (£16m) annually to regain its place at the F1 table. It is a price that President Nieto thinks is worth paying.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been extensively upgraded to meet F1's standards
Mr Hellmund expects a crowd of 120,000 for the race, comfortably beating the track's record
The 48 year-old took office in December 2012, precisely the time at which the exciting new breed of Mexican F1 drivers were emerging.
Record crowds
Esteban Gutiérrez joined Sauber in 2013, but Ferrari's talent spotters snapped him up this year.
Sergio Perez started in 2011 and also began at Sauber. Two years later, he switched to McLaren before moving to Force India for 2014. He soon proved his worth by finishing third at the Bahrain GP in April last year, repeating the trick at the Russian GP earlier this month before finishing fifth in last weekend's US grand prix. This has helped rev up home support for F1 in the run up to this weekend's Mexican race.
Mexican driver Sergio Perez is in fine form, making the podium in the Russian Grand Prix
"Projected attendance in Mexico is probably around 110,000, and when you count personnel, teams, cleaners, security you're probably looking about 120,000," says Mr Hellmund. It dwarves the race's peak attendance of 100,000 in 1992, according to motorsport statistics database Forix.
"They could have sold 300,000 on race day this year, but the price is a lot for Mexico, if not for Formula 1," says Mr Hellmund. Tickets start at $91, rising up to $1,132, which is just shy of the $1,300 peak for the US GP - the race's closest competitor geographically.
The difference is that Mexico is one of the poorest nations on earth. In July, government social development agency Coneval reported that the poverty rate increased last year to 46.2%, equivalent to 55.3 million people in the nation of nearly 120 million.
The population is concentrated in Greater Mexico City, which is home to 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.
'Personal attachment'
It is the city's ardent fan-base that caught Mr Hellmund's attention.
This weekend's race is a homecoming for him as his late father, Gustavo Hellmund-Rosas, was responsible for the Mexican GP returning in 1986 after a 15-year absence.
Mr Hellmund was a born promoter and seized the moment a decade ago when the US GP was in the middle of a turbulent eight years at Indianapolis. In 2007, the city finally severed its ties with F1 and this was the catalyst for Mr Hellmund's bid to bring the US GP to Austin, where he now lives.
Mr Hellmund had to convince F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone the sport should return to Mexico
"It was always the plan to get Austin up and running then get a second grand prix in Mexico," he says. "It has history and a personal attachment because of my father's relationship with it."
The plan was driven by Mr Hellmund and his counterpart in Mexico, Alejandro Soberon, chief executive of the world's third largest live entertainment company, Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE), which is promoting the race and leases the track.
"I had to convince Bernie [Ecclestone] that I had found the right location for the race and that I had found the right partners in CIE," says Mr Hellmund.
F1 has raised Austin's profile internationally and Mr Hellmund is confident Mexico will share the same glow.
"I think they will sustain it for at least five years. A lot of the ticket deals sold to the public in Mexico are tied up for that long - more than 20%. There's enough of a following and a passion for motorsport in Latin America that having local drivers is not an absolute necessity, but I think it certainly helps."
On Sunday, all eyes in Mexico will be on them.
