F1 Paddock Notebook - Belgian GP Thursday

With a recap of all the additional news and notes from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.

- The biggest talking point heading into media day at Spa was the future of Force India. Despite uncertainty within the team whether or not it would be racing at Spa early in the day, an official communication came from the FIA confirming the team would be racing this weekend, albeit under the rebranded name of 'Racing Point Force India' as a new entry.

- The previous Force India team that competed in the championship up to this point has been excluded from the constructors' championship and had its points erased, avoiding the issue of potentially having an 11-team championship that could create complications surrounding the prize money awards.

- Racing Point Force India is therefore a new entry to the championship, meaning it starts on zero points and will not be eligible for 'Column 1' prize money payments until its third season of racing.

- Otmar Szafnauer has been appointed team principal at Racing Point Force India, while the team's deputy team principal, Bob Fernley, has stepped down from his role.

- Both Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon stressed ahead of the announcement they were treated the weekend as usual, going through their regular preparations etc. Both were coy and did not talk a great deal about the takeover by the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium.

- Looking to next year, Perez said he had his plans for 2019 all firmed up, with an announcement to follow at a later date. Ocon, meanwhile, said he remained relaxed despite seeing his planned move to Renault for next year get sunk by Daniel Ricciardo's shock move across.

- Ricciardo was joined in the first part of the FIA press conference by Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz Jr., all of whom will be in different colours next year. Alonso had no updates to offer on his future, only echoing his comments made at Silverstone last weekend about F1's predictability and lack of on-track action.

- The next expected move in the driver market is Ferrari, with the decision over whether to keep Kimi Raikkonen or promote Charles Leclerc still to be made. Leclerc stressed he had no updates to offer on his future for next year, only saying: "Hopefully I will have some more things soon."

- Gunther Steiner said Ferrari's driver decision would have no bearing on Haas' plans for next year, saying that driver plans had not been discussed. He added that Haas was "weeks" away from a decision on its line-up for the 2019 season.

- Despite Ross Brawn's comments about plans for F1 to introduce a "soft budget cap" for 2019, Steiner said teams had not been spoken to about any such plans.

- Brendon Hartley said he paid little attention to the "noise" surrounding the driver market for 2019 when asked if he thought Ricciardo and Gasly's moves helped his cause to stay at Toro Rosso next year.

- In a side-story, Hartley responded to comments from Antonio Felix da Costa that he was ruled out of the running for the Toro Rosso seat due to sponsorship and other factors by saying they made him laugh. "I’m paid to be here," he said. "I’m a professional driver. And I’m not convinced he had the Super License points to be here, so… A lot of people like to talk."

- Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg are widely expected to take engine penalties, set to be confirmed on Friday by the FIA. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will also use up new engine components so they can use Ferrari's updated power unit, with it being unclear if Raikkonen will take a grid drop or not.

- Stoffel Vandoorne unveiled a special helmet design for his home race weekend in Belgium to mark 50 years since McLaren's first win. It features a retro papaya design and includes Bruce McLaren's signature.

New lid to celebrate my home race and 50 years since Mclaren’s first victory What do you think? pic.twitter.com/kQAjz0ibfJ

— Stoffel Vandoorne (@svandoorne) August 23, 2018

- Vandoorne said he had "no doubt" that he'd be racing in Monza despite speculation he could be shuffled out of McLaren for the next race in order to make way for Esteban Ocon should the driver merry-go-round enter full swing ahead of next season.

- Friday's FP1 session will see just one driver switch, with Lando Norris taking Fernando Alonso's seat at McLaren for the session as part of his ongoing development with the team.