Last year, when COVID-19 came around, i made some posts explaining the new normality and what we should expect when we visit the F1 Belgian racetrack.

If you don’t know what i am talking about then you can have a look here and i will also include just a summary of the ongoing measures here anyway.
It’s a very quick read and should give you a clear image of what is going on.

This year, although starting at the date which the circuit was supposed to be opening and looking like everything was going to be “normal”, it actually took a step back from where we left things at the end of last season in regards to passengers.

And suddenly, even when you were a professional driving instructor – such as myself – you were not allowed to sit next to the driver.

To be completely honest the official guideline was leaving a small window open, stating that if the driver and the passenger both held a racing license and on top they were both registered to race to a specific event later in the year, they could go in the car together as this would classify as training for a competition event.

As you can imagine, little did this matter as the majority of the people undergoing training days don’t necessarily race or have something planned.

Since last year, the track is asking for a full name list of all the participants from the organisers.

Each participant/visitor will then be given a unique QR code which will be needed in order to enter the track.

The track is very strict, stating that No QR code = No entrance to the track.

This QR code comes after each entrant having completed a waiver stating that he doesn’t have any COVID symptoms nor have interacted with any person that had any symptoms in the last 14 days.

The number of the people accompanying a car has been restricted to 4, since last year .
This includes the drivers of the cars and any staff that comes with it.

In the beginning this looked like it would be a problem for bigger racing team with bigger crews but everything keeps running well as it is so Kudos to them.

For those of you who have visited the modern F1 paddock of the Belgian track, you should have a good idea of how those modern boxes can easily fit even up to 5 cars.

Of course in their try to keep in effect all social distancing measures ,the government officials have limited the maximum amount of cars inside a pitbox to 2.

And following the above example of 4 people/car, that brings the maximum amount of people inside a pitbox to 8.

The track is also warning that these numbers will be strictly monitored and any deviation will not be tolerated.

Following again the two updates above and since no more than 8 people are allowed inside a pitbox, the existence of grand hospitality areas has also been suspended from 2020.

No gatherings of such sort are allowed during any trackday event.
No couches, Simrigs to gather around, food stalls and juice bars! Unfortunately!

There are of course fine examples of how someone can work past this, by setting up small take away points for all customers to come by and pick up their trackday drinks and snacks.

A fine example of this are the events organised by Curbstone.

Watching at the numbers allowed on a trackday, the track is setting a limit of 300 people max.

Priority of course goes to cars/drivers and that could potentially mean forbidding/withdrawing entrance admittance to extra staff, friends, passengers if those max numbers are reached.

The use of a mask is mandatory at all times except when driving.

This is frequently checked throughout the day and notices are given if caught doing otherwise.

The track warns that if this is not respected, people might get banned from the premises.