Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
This weekend is a Formula 1 race in Mexico City. Fast cars race around a track. Many fans come to watch.
The track is very high above the sea. The air is thin up there. This makes the cars harder to drive.
Qualifying is today, Saturday, at 3 in the afternoon in Mexico. It decides who starts first.
The big race is on Sunday at 2 in the afternoon. Last year, Lando Norris won in Mexico City.
- race
- a contest to see who is fastest
- track
- a road made for racing
- fan
- a person who loves a sport
- high
- far above the ground or sea
- air
- what we breathe
- thin
- not thick, with less in it
- start
- to begin
- win
- to finish first
Level 2 - Elementary
The Formula 1 circus is in Mexico City for the Mexican Grand Prix. The weekend runs from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Qualifying takes place today, Saturday 31 October, at 3 pm local time. The race is on Sunday at 2 pm local time. In qualifying, drivers try to set the fastest lap to win a place at the front of the starting grid.
The track is more than 2,200 metres above sea level. The thin air gives cars less downforce and makes it harder to cool the engines and brakes, so teams must change their setups.
Last year, Lando Norris took pole position and won the race, with Charles Leclerc second and Max Verstappen third.
- circus
- here, the traveling group of a sport
- local time
- the time in the place of the event
- lap
- one trip around a track
- grid
- the starting positions of the cars
- downforce
- air pressure that pushes a car onto the road
- cool
- to make less hot
- setup
- the way a car is adjusted
- pole position
- the first place on the grid
Level 3 - Intermediate
Formula 1 arrives in Mexico City this weekend for the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with practice on Friday 30 October, qualifying today at 3 pm local time and the race on Sunday 1 November at 2 pm.
The venue is one of the most unusual on the calendar. Sitting more than 2,200 metres above sea level, it offers thin air that cuts aerodynamic downforce and starves engines and brakes of cooling. Teams typically run their cars in a high downforce configuration and still struggle for grip, which can reshuffle the usual order.
Last year's race offers a reference point. Lando Norris took pole and won, finishing more than thirty seconds clear of Charles Leclerc, with Max Verstappen third. That margin was dominant, but altitude, strategy and the long run to the first corner tend to produce drama at this track.
With qualifying only hours away, the question for each team is how well it has adapted its setup. The driver who starts at the front here usually enjoys a clear advantage, which makes today's session worth watching as much as Sunday's race.
- venue
- the place where an event is held
- aerodynamic
- relating to how air moves around an object
- configuration
- the way parts are arranged
- grip
- the hold tires have on the road
- reshuffle
- to change the order of
- reference point
- something used for comparison
- margin
- the size of a winning gap
- session
- a period of activity
Level 4 - Advanced
Formula 1's travelling show settles into Mexico City this weekend for the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez: practice began on Friday 30 October, qualifying falls today at 3 pm local time, and the race follows on Sunday 1 November at 2 pm.
The circuit's defining eccentricity is altitude. At more than 2,200 metres above sea level, the rarefied air erodes aerodynamic load and deprives power units and brakes of the cooling they would enjoy elsewhere. Engineers are forced into a compromise, running maximum wing to claw back downforce while managing temperatures, and the result is a car that behaves differently from the one that raced the previous weekend.
Last season supplies a benchmark, if an imperfect one. Lando Norris took pole and won by more than thirty seconds from Charles Leclerc, with Max Verstappen third, a margin that suggested control rather than chaos. Yet the circuit has a history of unsettling form: a long run to the first braking zone and a stadium section that rewards precision, and both reward those who adapt fastest.
With the grid still to be set, today's session carries disproportionate weight. A front row start on this track is worth more than raw pace on paper, which is why the hour of qualifying may tell us more than the race that follows.
- eccentricity
- an unusual or odd characteristic
- rarefied
- thinner than normal, with less density
- erode
- to wear away gradually
- deprive
- to take something away from
- benchmark
- a standard used to judge others
- unsettle
- to disturb the usual order of
- disproportionate
- too large or too small compared with something else
- pace
- speed
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