Poll: Belgian Grand Prix 2016, Spa-Francorchamps - Race 13/21

Rate the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 1

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • 2

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 2 2.4%
  • 5

    Votes: 10 11.8%
  • 6

    Votes: 9 10.6%
  • 7

    Votes: 33 38.8%
  • 8

    Votes: 24 28.2%
  • 9

    Votes: 4 4.7%
  • 10

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • Total voters
    85
  • Poll closed .
Man of Honour
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hamilton wants to take 2 engines, totto for some reason has repeatedly said he only wants to take 1 engine if at all possible.
 
Soldato
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hamilton wants to take 2 engines, totto for some reason has repeatedly said he only wants to take 1 engine if at all possible.

I wonder why :rolleyes:

Toto said that he only wants Hamilton to take one engine because if he takes both, he's stuck with his current engines and can't benefit from further engine developments that come later in the year, unless he blows an engine and has to take yet another penalty.
 
Man of Honour
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Toto said that he only wants Hamilton to take one engine because if he takes both, he's stuck with his current engines and can't benefit from further engine developments that come later in the year, unless he blows an engine and has to take yet another penalty.

this doesn't make sense, as he can just take another penalty.
taking one complete engine he's at the back of the grid anyway isn't he?

as far as i know they don't have to prove all parts have failed to take another penalties.
 
Soldato
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this doesn't make sense, as he can just take another penalty.
taking one complete engine he's at the back of the grid anyway isn't he?

as far as i know they don't have to prove all parts have failed to take another penalties.

If that's correct, then Toto doesn't want Hamilton committed to an older spec engine when a newer spec arrives. If he's going get another engine penalty, Toto wants it to be for a updated engine.

I suspect that's better for the team, but for Hamilton, it's better to get rid of both last place starts in one go, and live with a slightly slower engine if he has to. He's only got to beat Rosberg.
 
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Soldato
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But what does he lose by taking two now and if they upgrade, taking another later on as well.


If he takes two now, Hamilton starts at the back of the grid once. If he takes one now, and one later, he starts down twice, but possibly with a slightly improved power unit the second time.

Hamilton obviously thinks the chance of a slightly improved engine isn't worth being pushed down the grid twice instead of once.
 
Man of Honour
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You still aren't understanding.

What's stopping him taking two noe and going back to the grid and if needed taking another upgraded later on and going to the back of the grid. But if he doesn't need the upgraded engine, he still has two to use without another penalty.

I can't see any reason to only take one, unless there's some rule which hasn't been pointed out yet.
 
Soldato
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Surely you can't take multiple new engines in one go. You'd just take 20 at the start of the season and have a fresh engine each time with only one race of a billion penalty points but rag each one to within an inch of their life at each meeting.
 
Soldato
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You still aren't understanding.

What's stopping him taking two noe and going back to the grid and if needed taking another upgraded later on and going to the back of the grid. But if he doesn't need the upgraded engine, he still has two to use without another penalty.

I can't see any reason to only take one, unless there's some rule which hasn't been pointed out yet.


I would guess that taking another engine later would be more of a penalty because of difficulty of overtaking on later tracks. By all taking the engines/penalties at tracks where losses can be mitigated by Hamilton overtaking everyone and getting on the podium, the penalties can be mostly negated to give Hamilton a couple of engines.

Maybe Toto knows something about upcoming engine improvements?

Edit: There's now reports that Hamilton is taking one two at Spa?
 
Soldato
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That still doesn't make any sense as you're talking about taking a penaltie at a latter track anyway.

I don't know how to make it clearer. Choosing where you take your penalties means you can minimise the effect of those penalties. Would you rather start from the back at Monza where a top car like the Mercedes can overtake and end up on the podium, or at a circuit like Monaco where even the best car and driver is going to stay stuck at the back?
 
Man of Honour
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No no no. That's not what I'm saying at all.

Is there a limit on total engines?

If not then why not take 2engines then if needed take another one latter on.
This works out no worse than taking one engine, then taking another engine latter off.

I can't see any benefit to Toto only wanting to take 1 engine.
 
Man of Honour
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Surely you can't take multiple new engines in one go. You'd just take 20 at the start of the season and have a fresh engine each time with only one race of a billion penalty points but rag each one to within an inch of their life at each meeting.

Pretty sure you can but you'd end up with engines with no development for a year, so would be behind on power and no team would want the cost of having loads of engines and the negative publicity too.
 
Soldato
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Pretty sure you can but you'd end up with engines with no development for a year, so would be behind on power and no team would want the cost of having loads of engines and the negative publicity too.
Makes sense.

I can't see any benefit to Toto only wanting to take 1 engine.

If he just takes one now won't he only get a 10 place penalty, so he won't be right at the back?
 
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Hamilton is alright with 'engines' as he's only used three ICEs like Rosberg. Its actually MGU-H and turbochargers he needs, so he could take two of each and it wouldn't matter if Merc makes updates unless it is to these components specifically.

He'll no doubt take a new ICE, control electronics and MGU-k without penalty for this race but take a new MGU-H and turbo on Friday and then another on Saturday which both carry penalties. He'll start at the back of the grid once but have two full sets of components for the remainder of the season, assuming no more break anyway!
 
Soldato
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Pretty sure you can but you'd end up with engines with no development for a year, so would be behind on power and no team would want the cost of having loads of engines and the negative publicity too.

Plus, I think they actually have to fit them. So you'd be stuck at however many you could feasibly fit in a weekend, taking into account curfew etc.

So it would eat into race prep etc.
 
Soldato
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He can and that is the intention I believe. Apparently the penalty doesn't carry over and you can use previously used engine components, so he will take 2 new components/units.

Yeah, they stopped that before the 120+ grid penalty McLaren got last year. Quota penalties don't add up anymore, so in theory you could get away with changing as many PUs as you could in a weekend.

Gearbox penalties are different though - for some reason (I guess ratio advantages) they have to be used in sequence.



Surely you can't take multiple new engines in one go. You'd just take 20 at the start of the season and have a fresh engine each time with only one race of a billion penalty points but rag each one to within an inch of their life at each meeting.

Practically speaking you'd only want to take 2 in one weekend. One in FP1 (a whole new PU change before FP2 is quite a challenge that they'd try to avoid) and another one installed for FP3 that you'd also use for qualifying and the race. They'd be able to change certain individual elements before FP2 and qualifying too I guess.

But you couldn't just say "well, we want this one, this one, this one and this one in addition to the ones we start with. Oh, the grid penalty is fine". I think it's when it drives out into the pitlane in an official session that it counts, so you can't preempt the engine changes - you have to install it and drive it in practice, qualifying or the race.

Also, as said above, you wouldn't get any in-season upgrades even if you could pre-choose PUs, as once a PU is allocated, that is pretty much it in terms of homologation.
 
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