Now that the FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE MEXICO 2015® return to Mexico on October 30, 31 and November 1, it will be almost 52 years since the first the top category race in the country.

“When I came for the first time it was the brothers Rodríguez prime and we had a blast”. Sir Jackie Stewart, the three-time World Champion recalling the first years of the Gran Premio de Mexico.

On October 27, 1963 took place the first Gran Premio de Mexico, a year after a FORMULA 1® race was competed, however it didn’t count officially for the World Championship.

The race of 1963 took place in Magdalena Mixhuca, it was the ninth race of ten during that World Championship season. The Scottish Jim Clark had been proclaimed champion by then, but he and his Lotus 25, both kept going with the winning combination.

Clark achieved the pole position and after 65 laps to the 5 kilometers track, he reached the victory ahead the Australian Jack Brabham who was driving a Cooper and the American Richie Ginther in a BRM. Later, these two drivers would also have their own victories in Mexican territory.

Two Mexican drivers participated in the first Gran Premio de Mexico: Moises Solana in a BRM and Pedro Rodriguez in a Lotus Climax, but we shall return to these pair of compatriots later on this serial of historic background.

The second race that took place in Mexico 1964 was the last of the season and the first of three occasions in which the country witnessed the World Championship on its circuit. There were three drivers competing for the title, the British Graham Hill for BRM, his compatriot John Surteespor, Ferrari and the ever-present Clark for Lotus.

Clark had made everything by the book to win. Getting the pole positon, he led with 10 seconds of advantage seconds, after 20 laps and for almost 20 seconds with a just few remaining leaps. Nevertheless, an oil tube detached from his car, and even he tried to fix it, the engine collapsed on during the last lap.

Meanwhile, Dan Gurney won with his Brabham, the second position was for Surtees, who overtook his Ferrari teammate, Lorenzo Bandini in complicity on the last laps in order to claim the title. Thereafter Surtees made history becoming the first man on winning the World Championship in two and four wheels.

A year later, we also witnessed something historic. Clark took the pole position for third consecutive time in Mexico, the Grand Prix in 1965 was the first time for the American, Richie Ginther, who competed in a Honda. This date also represents the beginning of the FORMULA 1® as for the wheels competition with Goodyear taking its first victory at the Grand Prix.

The Gran Premio de Mexico 1965 was the first and last victory for Ginther, who competed in 52 World Championship races, first with Ferrari and later with BRM before heading the Honda movement in the four-wheel Racing World.

Surtees, who used to drive a Cooper by then, got a pole position in Mexico City in 1996, season where he was well known as “The returning to power” given that the FORMULA 1® changed its regulations from the 1.5-liter engine to the 3-liter. Surtees achieved his first victory for the British manufacturer and if he had obtained the victory for Ferrari at Belgium in the beginning of that year, he would have accomplished a historic farewell.

Mexican fans had their last chance to witness Clark at the height of his career in 1967, when he got the pole position for the fourth time in the country. He easily won once again, encouraged by the legendary engine Ford Cosworth V8, but six months later, the Scottish lost his on a FORMULA 2 race in Germany.

After Clark we had the Brabhams of Jack Brabham and the New Zealander DennyHulme. Brabham needed to win the race and watch his teammate finishing top at the fifth place if he wanted to keep his tile, won in 1966, but Clark and Hulmese himself impeded it to the great Australian.

Once more, by the time three drivers were competing for the World title the Gran Premio de Mexico was taking place in 1968. Graham Hill, that time racing for Lotus, the Scottish, Jackie Stewart ,Clark’s successor in a BRM and the current champion, Hulme.

The pole position was for a little known name, Jo Siffert, the Swizz driver, with the team Walker Lotus. It was the first of two pole positions for Siffert, but none of them ended in victory at the end of the races. That time, the winner was Hill and with that, Graham’s second World Championship, a happier climax for Lotus in comparison to the season when Clark had died.

In 1969,Denny Hulme left Brabham to join the New Zealander Bruce McLaren at the team named after Bruce. Even though Brabham himself got pole Hulmese won that time to compensate the fact that McLaren had to step down after a failure on the fuel injection.

And this is how we conclude the first stage of the Gran Premio de Mexico.

It was organized on October 18, 1970 and the race was attended by about 200,000 people, who in their persistence for being closer to the action, the attendees broke the security fences and invaded the track, which caused that Jackie Stewart and Pedro Rodriguez asked the fans to calm down.

"The crowd invaded the track and they began to settle in with their hats on and their legs crossed without moving, organizers told me: Ok, you are the World Champion, so if you and Pedro Rodriguez ask them to move, they will do it. And indeed we did so and it worked, but when we tried to move the second section of the audience, the first one had already returned to the track ". Said Stewart.

"Then during the race, a huge dog ran to my car, it was a giant animal, seen it from FORMULA 1® car seat it looked like an elephant, that moment I realized that was it, I left the track and headed to Acapulco ".

After one hour of delay, JackyIckx from Belgium won for Ferrari, that time was the only victory in Mexico that time for the most famous FORMULA 1® teams. Sixteen years would pass for the Mexican fans to enjoy the motor racing top category again.

Gran Premio de Mexico 1963-1970

Victories: Clark 2, Gurney, Ginther, Surtees, G.Hill, Hulme y Ickx 1 Lotus 3, Brabham, Honda, Cooper, McLaren y Ferrari 1

Pole positions: Clark 4, Surtees, Siffert, Brabham y Regazzoni 1 Lotus 5, Cooper, Brabham y Ferrari 1

Fast laps: Clark 3, Ickx 2, Gurney, Ginther y Siffert 1 Lotus 4, Brabham 2, Honda y Ferrari 1

Coming soon: From Berger to the British Bulldog: The Gran Premio de Mexico from 1986 to 1992