Before the event adopted the Mexico City Grand Prix name in the modern era, the Mexican Grand Prix built its Formula 1 identity through two distinct spells at the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The venue’s thin air, brutal bumps and the fearsome Peraltada made it one of the calendar’s most demanding stops, and the original Mexican Grand Prix name covered the championship years from 1963 to 1970 and 1986 to 1992.
What To Know?
- Honda’s first F1 win happened here: Richie Ginther’s 1965 victory was Honda’s breakthrough Grand Prix win.
- Jim Clark was the early benchmark: he won twice in the championship era of the 1960s, plus the famous non-championship 1962 event.
- Mexico launched Berger and Benetton: the 1986 race delivered Berger’s first win and Benetton’s first as a constructor.
- Crowds shaped the schedule: safety and crowd control concerns, especially around 1970, helped end the race’s first World Championship run.
List of Every Mexican Grand Prix Winner
Mexican Grand Prix Winners: 1963 to 1970
The World Championship era began in Mexico with Jim Clark stamping his authority, winning in 1963 and returning to the top step again in 1967 as the circuit’s defining early star.
The mid-1960s brought variety and significance. Dan Gurney won in 1964, and in 1965, Richie Ginther delivered Honda’s first-ever Formula 1 victory, a landmark moment for the Japanese manufacturer. 1966 added another new name to the record with John Surtees victorious.
As the decade closed, the event became a season-ending pressure cooker. Graham Hill won the title-deciding 1968 race, Denny Hulme took victory in 1969, and Ferrari finished the original run on top in 1970 through Jacky Ickx. Crowd-control problems and incidents surrounding the 1970 event contributed to the race being dropped from the calendar soon after.
Mexican Grand Prix Winners: 1986 to 1992
When Formula 1 returned in 1986, it did so on a revised but still punishing version of the circuit, and the winners’ list reads like a late-1980s highlight reel.
The comeback race was won by Gerhard Berger, his first Formula 1 victory, and also Benetton’s first win as a team. Nigel Mansell won in 1987, while Alain Prost controlled the 1988 race for McLaren and later produced one of the great drives at this venue in 1990, charging from deep on the grid to win for Ferrari.
Ayrton Senna triumphed in 1989 during the peak of the McLaren era, and Williams dominated the final two editions, with Riccardo Patrese winning in 1991 and Mansell returning to the top step in 1992.
After 1992, Formula 1 left again, and when the race eventually returned in 2015 it did so on the same site but under the revived Mexican Grand Prix title, later switching to the Mexico City Grand Prix name from 2021.
Mexican Grand Prix Winners: 2015 to 2019
On Formula 1’s return to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2015, Nico Rosberg claimed pole position and controlled the race to take victory, leading a dominant Mercedes 1–2 ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. A year later, Hamilton converted pole into a comfortable win of his own, further underlining Mercedes’ strength in Mexico’s thin air.
In 2017, Max Verstappen stormed into the lead at the start for Red Bull Racing and never looked back, securing victory as Hamilton clinched his fourth World Championship. Verstappen repeated the feat in 2018 with another commanding drive, while Hamilton’s fourth-place finish was enough to seal his fifth title.
The 2019 edition saw Hamilton return to the top step, winning from third on the grid with a long opening stint strategy that proved decisive. It would be the last Mexican Grand Prix before the pandemic-forced cancellation of the 2020 race.
More F1 Race Winners
From Adelaide to Silverstone to Monza and Spa, we chart the full story of every F1 winner from each event’s first race to the last.
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