[5] Kimi Räikkönen scored his final F1 career points in this race when he finished in 8th place whilst driving for Alfa Romeo.

The race marked its debut in the Formula One Championship calendar under the name Mexico City Grand Prix.

The 2021 race was originally to take place on 31 October, but was moved a week later due to the reduction of the overall number of Grands Prix in the calendar, from 23 to 22.

[11] The first practice session started at 11:30 local time (UTC−06:00) on 5 November, and ended with Valtteri Bottas fastest for Mercedes, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.

[12] The second practice session started at 15:00 local time, also on 5 November, and ended with Verstappen fastest ahead of Bottas and Hamilton.

[13] The third and final practice session started at 11:00 on 6 November with the Red Bulls of Sergio Pérez and Verstappen fastest, followed by the two Mercedes.