Solved

Little DP at the start of the season...

I have no idea how the dp you get at the start of a season gets decided, but clearly this is wrong
For the last 10-11 seasons the game has always given me over 300 dp. So why has it decided to only give me 209 dp this season?Already i have 100+ less than my competitors
I joined half way through the previous season and basically the same thing happened, 108 dp! What the hell am I going to do with 108 dp when everyone else has had 10 races to get more dp?
Why am I suffering with a dp deficit again after I already had to play catch up?
If you're feeling overly fast, could you give me a few dp, please?

Even worse, I now have 186 dp

DP is from your CD and TD. Every race they collect points that contribute to your teams NEXT season design. However if you join a new league you lose out on two fronts; first your current seasons DP is scrubbed and you are always given a lot lower than the other teams to stop someone jumping in an disrupting a title race. Second because you joined mid-season the design for the following season will also be lower because your staff contributed points for less races.

after a full season in the league, your next season will be when you are back to full strength.