F1 track in Mexico converted into drive-in cinema by government to lift morale of people

The Formula One (F1) season saw massive changes this year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The F1 season was scheduled to begin in March but was postponed for three months before the season's start in Austria earlier in July. Unlike the usual F1 championship, the current season will be truncated due to the global health crisis, with travelling and environmental bubble measures adopted to contain th spread of the virus. With the growing number of Mexico corona cases, the Mexico City Grand Prix was cancelled in July. With the Grand Prix cancelled,  the Mexico City government has turned its F1 racing track into a drive-in cinema. 

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Formula 1 news: F1 racing track converted into a drive-in cinema despite rising Mexico corona cases

According to a report by Inside Sport, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has been turned into a drive-in cinema by the Mexico City government after the Mexico City Grand Prix was cancelled this year. Due to the rising number of Mexico corona cases, the drive-in cinema allows film lovers to maintain social distancing while enjoying exclusively Mexican films. The F1 racing track turned cinema hall will open be every Sunday and Wednesday until August 19, and can accommodate 415 vehicles. Drive-in cinemas first arrived in Mexico in the 1950s but gradually lost their popularity and disappeared from the scene, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has revived the tradition.  

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Juan Manuel Bedwell, a veteran accountant, left home isolation to go back to a drive-in cinema for the first time in four decades, to watch the 2013 Mexican film “The Last Call,” a comedy based on “Caligula,” a play by Frenchman Albert Camus with his three kids and grandchildren. Bedwell told AFP that the pandemic was something that nobody expected and aid that if people stay more locked up, they'll get depressed. Argel Gomez, Big Festivals director at the Mexico City culture secretariat, said that drive-in cinemas have big potential due to the need for a new normal'. Ernesto Contreras, a director and former president of Mexico’s cinematography Academy, says that the drive-through movie theatre is 'a reason to celebrate' and he believes it will be a huge boost to Mexico’s film industry.

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The drive-in cinema is not the first that the F1 racing track at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has been turned into a venue to host cultural events. Mexico's biggest music festivals are also posted at the venue. The F1 venue also served as a temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients. The venue last hosted a Grand Prix in 2019, which was won by Lewis hamilton. Mexico is the fourth worst-hit country in the world by the COVID-19 outbreak with more than 43,000 deaths, and sixth in the number of cases with over 390,000 infections among its 127 million population. 

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(Image Courtesy: Mexican Grand Prix Twitter)