The Official Belgium Grand Prix Thread

I guess Ferrari was running cheater motors last season.

I don't follow the technical regs very closely, but are there going to be new constructor's regs next year that allow meaningful changes to the cars during the season...?

I can't be the only one who thinks this current state of F1 has gotten beyond ridiculous...

I decided yesterday that I am no longer getting up at 4:30am, on the East Coast of the US, to make my coffee and watch P1 or P3 live anymore as this is ridiculous!! I have a DVR and use it anyway so from now on no more getting up early for me, at least for the rest of this season. I will also skip thru all the commercials during all the Practice and Qualifying sessions as well.

The FIA is banning special engines modes starting at Monza next week so the engine mode the cars use in practice is the same mode they have to use in qualifying and the race. The FIA has also required the teams to supply detailed Power Unit design and function specification in an effort to thwart "cheating". That might bring the pack a little closer to the Mercedes but I am not holding my breath. 

For next year and the years after they are still hashing out how the upgrade tokens for both engine and aero will be allocated. Again I am not too hopefully this will slow Mercedes down either.

The real problem is Mercedes have amassed the top engineers, engine builders and designers. Add a driver like Hamilton to that group, with a teammate who isn't a threat to him, and they will most likely continue to dominate. 

Yep. These token systems are complete bullshit and are a large part of what cemented Merc's avdantage throughout this PU era.

And yeah, when the head of the team has specifically stated that they can and will spend any amount that it takes to win, it makes it more than a little tough on everyone else. They can poach engineers they don't even need, just to keep other teams from having them. Then you have clueless or agenda-driven fans saying about the other manufacturers/teams "Well, just do a better job then". It's just not that simple.


What an unbelievable joke. And mess. Hopefully, the budget cap can be enforced and help level the playing field.

The painted line is the track limit, according to the rules. I agree that off-track driving should be self-penalizing, but in too many instances these days, the tracks just don't do that. I wish the tracks all had grass and gravel just outside the white line, but they don't. That would be ideal, but the absence of those deterrents doesn't mean enforcement of track limits should just be abandoned until we get all the tracks back the way we want them, which likely won't ever happen. Just saying "I wish the tracks penalized the drivers" is nice, and again, I agree with that sentiment 100% ... but it's pointless to wish for it, because it's likely not gonna happen again across the board in our lifetimes.

They are enforcing a limit now. It's just the wrong one. An arbitrary one that ignores the limit that's defined in the rules. That enforcement, along with other series like the WEC doing a very good and consistent job of enforcing the white line as the track limit, shows that it can be done and that it isn't even that hard to do. With that in mind, the only question is why it isn't being done in F1. I presume it's because the big teams think it gives them an advantage, and they're lobbying for the wider limit (or no limit at all if they can get it). Same shit, different day ... Big teams running and making a mockery of F1.

Painted lines have never been limits - does the double yellow on the highways actually limit anything - it advises, it does not stop.  The only thing that is a limit is something that has a REAL consequence to the car/driver team.

At Daytona, NASCAR penalizes for violating line at the bottom of the track because the line is painted on the flat surface of __/ - if you get down to the bottom line from the banking you are wrecking yourself (been there, done that).  The reality is the the painted line is also self enforcing.

The double lines on the highway don't stop you from driving over them, but they do show where you can legally drive. Drive on the other side of them, and you're pretty likely to get a penalty if seen by law enforcement. And you'd be lucky if that's the worst that happens. The white line on the track shows where you can legally drive. 

Check the rules. The white line is clearly the track limit. Other series successfully enforce it and their drivers drive accordingly. Why can't F1? They're already enforcing a limit as it is currently (which is a good step in the right direction). It's just the wrong line. There's no reason they couldn't enforce the limit as described by the rules. Maybe Crofty is right and this is just the first step, moving toward enforcing it properly in the future.

Like I said before, you'll get no argument from me against tracks being constructed in a way that automatically penalizes the driver for exceeding the limits - thus negating any need for the stewards to monitor track limits - but that's not gonna happen anytime soon, if ever again. In the meantime, the rules should be enforced. Just giving up and letting them drive wherever, a la IMSA at COTA, just makes the whole thing a joke.