F1 Manager 2022

[Fezzik]

Terrible and not that great unless you really lean on Magnussen to pull the team's weight. Many of the team facilities aren't even present (as you'd expect from an American team competing in a primarily European-based sport), and the sponsors initially want both cars in Q2 minimum and finishing above 14th which is... not impossible, so long as you're not adverse to liberal use of the pause button to react to situations the moment they occur. You also don't have much of a budget to start with, so choosing what to upgrade in the early days is sort of a "choose your pain" scenario.

And I can speak from experience when I say one misstep in development can very much torpedo your entire season, so if you're looking for a real challenge that's your team to pick.

Like I said, playing the loooong game. It helps that the McLaren is pretty **** to start, so that's one less contender for the early points. Basically fighting the Alphas/Alfas (minus super Bottas, who is way too fast) and maybe Ocon's Alpine. 6th-best team is definitely doable in the first year, just can't completely switch focus to research later on.

I did notice after I signed Piastri for my Williams test, he was wearing the helmet even in the start screen (and don’t think the comms used his name). With this and the slow overall progression, may just stick with the 20 original drivers for immersion. Don’t think I’ll reach a point where the Stigs have taken over the whole grid.

 

[Fezzik]

You have the right idea to get the best experience out of this. Depending on how the next update effects my current career (or If I totally screwed up my research and development for season 2), I will start a new career with Haas.

How are their car development facilities and sponsor payouts?

Pretty basic. Car development is all level 1 other than lvl 2 design centre. Staff facilities is worse - only a lvl 1 scouting, nothing else. Operations has a lvl 1 boardroom and weather centre only.

Lots of sponsor requirements, so upgrades will be slower but some cash coming in. This is probably the most annoying bit for choosing them, other teams have way less.

Standard performance targets aren’t too bad, get both drivers into q2 and have one at least 14th for 5 straight races.

 

[LamboFan357]

Leclerc’s Winning team radio is underwhelming, it’s always the “***** ***, this was incredibly difficult” on every race, they need to add variation

 

[Spacegoat]

I'm only really planning one playthrough so starting at the bottom and playing the long game seems to be the best bet.

That's fair enough. Will say that entering the '24 season with McLaren. I'm still not able to really qualify any better than 7th with Lando. I've managed to snag three wins, but those have been thanks to outsmarting the AI when there's a wet race. I'm still a ways off competing with the top three teams.

Sidenote: The '24 grid. Hamilton and Bottas have swapped seats and Alpine started off the season with Felipe Drugovich replacing Alonso. By the AusGP, Drugovich was out and Alonso was back in. Wild but slightly disappointing that I've not experienced any retirements yet.

 

[Fezzik]

That's fair enough. Will say that entering the '24 season with McLaren. I'm still not able to really qualify any better than 7th with Lando. I've managed to snag three wins, but those have been thanks to outsmarting the AI when there's a wet race. I'm still a ways off competing with the top three teams.

That sounds about right. It should take multiple seasons to jump from the midfield to challenge the top teams (and Lando may be a bit overrated IRL).

I may be switching again and going back to Williams once the new update is out. Not really enjoying season 1 with Haas, having to fight for 6th whilst doing all the staff and HQ upgrades and trying not to sack Mick. Williams only has to beat the Astons to keep the board happy, so can do minimal development while pouring funds into the factory.

Piastri is a good add for the backmarkers, he might develop slowly and make a few mistakes but his stats make him a quali specialist. Consistently outperforming the car and his teammate, helps with the sponsor payments.

 

[alx42]

That sounds about right. It should take multiple seasons to jump from the midfield to challenge the top teams (and Lando may be a bit overrated IRL).

I may be switching again and going back to Williams once the new update is out. Not really enjoying season 1 with Haas, having to fight for 6th whilst doing all the staff and HQ upgrades and trying not to sack Mick. Williams only has to beat the Astons to keep the board happy, so can do minimal development while pouring funds into the factory.

Piastri is a good add for the backmarkers, he might develop slowly and make a few mistakes but his stats make him a quali specialist. Consistently outperforming the car and his teammate, helps with the sponsor payments.

If you go back to Williams and keep Albon, let me know. I've written down most of him plus Latifi's & Giovinazzi's car setups for the circuits. So they might be helpful. I forgot about writing down Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Monza.

And if anyone else is lost in a setup and would like to try one, please let me know. I'll post it here.

 

[Fezzik]

If you go back to Williams and keep Albon, let me know. I've written down most of him plus Latifi's & Giovinazzi's car setups for the circuits. So they might be helpful. I forgot about writing down Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Monza.

And if anyone else is lost in a setup and would like to try one, please let me know. I'll post it here.

The sponsor events are partially randomised, so I’m just reloading to try and get some for Haas that won’t affect the races too much. If not, it will be back to Williams.

Still trying to understand the whole set-up system. Found a site that helps optimize them but it’s still a but of a mystery.

 

[Fezzik]

The sponsor events are partially randomised, so I’m just reloading to try and get some for Haas that won’t affect the races too much. If not, it will be back to Williams.

Still trying to understand the whole set-up system. Found a site that helps optimize them but it’s still a but of a mystery.

ok there is some real stupid **** happening - i finally get some sponsor deals I don’t mind after reloading about a hundred times

leave that screen to look at something else, come back a couple of minutes later - what the heck, live updates?

if i play a management sim, i want full control, not this “necessary obligation, cannot be removed” nonsense

 

[Spacegoat]

That sounds about right. It should take multiple seasons to jump from the midfield to challenge the top teams (and Lando may be a bit overrated IRL).

Oh, yeah. Glad it hasn't been too easy to get McLaren towards the top but I just fear that the long term board objective of a constructors title in '26 is maybe a little ambitious. Though I've probably made it even harder for myself by dumping Dan for Piastri.

Thinking when the update drops, I might start over fresh with either Williams or Aston.

 

[Fezzik]

Oh, yeah. Glad it hasn't been too easy to get McLaren towards the top but I just fear that the long term board objective of a constructors title in '26 is maybe a little ambitious. Though I've probably made it even harder for myself by dumping Dan for Piastri.

Thinking when the update drops, I might start over fresh with either Williams or Aston.

I’m actually now thinking Alfa/Sauber/Audi may be the way to go. They are still classed as an “underdog” team and need building up, but have Bottas and a decent car for year 1. I like the idea of Valtteri sticking it to Toto and the Mercs.

 

[Spacegoat]

I’m actually now thinking Alfa/Sauber/Audi may be the way to go. They are still classed as an “underdog” team and need building up, but have Bottas and a decent car for year 1. I like the idea of Valtteri sticking it to Toto and the Mercs.

Yeah, Alfa is a good choice. From my experience, Bottas is the one non RB/Ferrari/Merc that always out qualifies me. Zhou too I think has okay stats to start off with.

 

[Fezzik]

Yeah, Alfa is a good choice. From my experience, Bottas is the one non RB/Ferrari/Merc that always out qualifies me. Zhou too I think has okay stats to start off with.

Race 1 - Bottas battling with Russell and Gasly for 5th through to stop 2. Did the undercut and pushed hard for a few laps. Ended up a few secs ahead but I overestimated the tyre wear and lost a couple of places in the last few laps. Lesson learnt, don’t push too hard. Zhou qualified 10th but made a couple of errors and dropped back. Managed to help him jump the McLarens. 7th and 12th a decent start.

Will likely restart after the update is out so this is all just testing different teams. Trying to be realistic with drivers and not poach those with race seats, so figuring out what to do with Schumacher and Latifi is hard when starting Haas or Williams. Don’t like using the Stigalikes instead of the scanned guys.

May have to sign Gasly for year 2, he is super quick and probably the best of the guys who would come to the lesser teams.

 

[Spacegoat]

Got up to the '25 season with my McLaren save. '24 was really good despite the car not having great performance stats. I was able to snag Lando 4 wins and finish 3rd in the drivers championship and 4th in the constructors. Just out of curiosity I switched to RBR Power units for '25, to see if there was much of a performance gain over the Merc PU. The car for the first time is now ranked inside the top ten for top speed but I still couldn't get Lando to qualify any better than 5th for Bahrain.

It was after that, I decided to put that save on hold and muck around a little with Williams, to see if I can get a better grasp on developing and researching parts before the update drops. Think I rushed too many parts with McLaren and thus didn't get the best experience gain as I could have from them. Setting everything to "intense" this time and concentrating on areas like brake cooling (no wonder Piastri was locking up all the time lol) and low speed cornering which I always struggled to improve.

 

[Fezzik]

If you go back to Williams and keep Albon, let me know. I've written down most of him plus Latifi's & Giovinazzi's car setups for the circuits. So they might be helpful. I forgot about writing down Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Monza.

And if anyone else is lost in a setup and would like to try one, please let me know. I'll post it here.

I somehow managed to get a 100% setup for Bahrain with De Vries in my new Williams playthrough.

 

[Spacegoat]

Well, my Williams experiment has been made all that much tougher, thanks to the regulation change that gives all teams equal CFD time and wind tunnel time. So I've completely given up making parts for the car this year and thrown as much time as I can into researching for '23.

Hoping to switch out Albon for either Danny Ric or Gasly (or maybe even Bottas? ) at the end of the year. When he hasn't been crashing or spinning. Albon has only managed to finish ahead of Piastri a couple of times. And I'm hoping a better driver will put the car up the grid a little bit (just getting into Q2 would be nice. ).

 

[Fezzik]

Well, my Williams experiment has been made all that much tougher, thanks to the regulation change that gives all teams equal CFD time and wind tunnel time. So I've completely given up making parts for the car this year and thrown as much time as I can into researching for '23.

Hoping to switch out Albon for either Danny Ric or Gasly (or maybe even Bottas? ) at the end of the year. When he hasn't been crashing or spinning. Albon has only managed to finish ahead of Piastri a couple of times. And I'm hoping a better driver will put the car up the grid a little bit (just getting into Q2 would be nice. ).

Alex is a bit useless against anyone but Latifi. Not worth the salary for a low budget team. Bottas may be too expensive as a replacement, he’s on 18 mil at the start with Alfa.

 

[Maximum11]

We seem to be a lot playing Williams =) , that makes sense. I resigned Albon after Gasly refused a few great offers (all but one criterias being green). Seems to be more difficult than it looks to sign a much better driver than Albon.

I stuggled a lot in Hungary but still Piastri finished 11th. The key during the race seem to catch a train as you can benefit from DRS and save a lot of gas. You'd better stay behind the train rather than trying to overtake. I hope they fix this in 1.07 update, along the tires performance differences.

No much hope for Spa despite new parts, maybe the lasts of the year, as now I'll focus on Research. Got Sylvie Colin instead of Demaison and a better Aero specialist, hope I can get some points regularly next year.

 

[Fezzik]

We seem to be a lot playing Williams =) , that makes sense.

The other teams, bar Aston, are a bit too good to start. With Williams even making Q2 is a major achievement. For me it feels like any improvement is something I actually did. Will be over the moon if I can get them a first win in 10 years, only 2nd in 18!

 

[Fezzik]

For anyone who’s done an engine supply change, does it make much difference? Thinking of bringing back Williams-Renault when I get the chance, but don’t want to hobble the new car.

 

[Spacegoat]

Bottas may be too expensive as a replacement, he’s on 18 mil at the start with Alfa.

Yeah, I wasn't aware of that until I scouted him. Looks like Gasly will be the one, if I can sign him in the off-season that is. And man, I tell you, not doing any upgrades for most of the season really shows. The cars are so much slower than the Aston's are now. 19th & 20th by a country mile.

For anyone who’s done an engine supply change, does it make much difference? Thinking of bringing back Williams-Renault when I get the chance, but don’t want to hobble the new car.

Switching to RB power for McLaren took the top speed from 17th odd on the grid to 8th. Didn't see too much of a performance gain though when it came to practice and qualifying for Bahrain though. But I think that had more to do with my own shortcoming at developing parts, the car has very average stats everywhere else.

 

[PJTierney]

Boom

 

[Fezzik]

I got my first points with Williams at Imola, season 1. Albon on a long first-stint 1 stopper, cheap pit stop under a safety car (thanks Yuki) and he managed to hold on for 9th place. De Vries cost me a chassis and front wing though. Rookies!

Much more fun building from the back, will definitely be sticking with Williams or moneybags Aston for the proper long-term play through.

 

[alx42]

Switching to RB power for McLaren took the top speed from 17th odd on the grid to 8th. Didn't see too much of a performance gain though when it came to practice and qualifying for Bahrain though. But I think that had more to do with my own shortcoming at developing parts, the car has very average stats everywhere else.

Thank you for confirming this. I plan to switch to RBPT/Honda for season 2 with Williams. I made a simple spreadsheet comparing the stats of all the power units currently within the game. Below is an image of it. Green = above average. Red = below average.

And as for updating the car, you're 100% correct. My last update was at Hungary because I decided to switch all of my resources for season two, and the overall pace of both of my cars have dropped back to dead last again. Yet both drivers are able to make it work to finish above Aston Martin during the race.

 

[Fezzik]

Thank you for confirming this. I plan to switch to RBPT/Honda for season 2 with Williams. I made a simple spreadsheet comparing the stats of all the power units currently within the game. Below is an image of it. Green = above average. Red = below average.
View attachment 1192449

And as for updating the car, you're 100% correct. My last update was at Hungary because I decided to switch all of my resources for season two, and the overall pace of both of my cars have dropped back to dead last again. Yet both drivers are able to make it work to finish above Aston Martin during the race.

So based on that, switching my Willys from Merc to Renault power would only really boost the fuel efficiency (and save 10 mil). Still might do it, for the nostalgia and a bit more variety on the grid. Won't hurt being able to do a load more push laps as well.

 

[Spacegoat]

And as for updating the car, you're 100% correct. My last update was at Hungary because I decided to switch all of my resources for season two, and the overall pace of both of my cars have dropped back to dead last again. Yet both drivers are able to make it work to finish above Aston Martin during the race.

I didn't even get anywhere close to the Aston's over the back half of the year. Thinking the board (for the first season at least), might be a little lenient on you. Because while I didn't reach the season goal, I still had a high confidence rating at the end of the year review.

Anyway, '23 is looking better. Managed to replace Albon with Gasly. Also picked up Jarrod Murphy from Mercedes as the new head of aero, as for whatever reason he was a free agent in the off-season. Thinking I might actually stick with this playthrough and maybe start over with McLaren instead after the update drops.

 

[Maximum11]

Piastri managed to finish 8th in Spa in typical very wet conditions, thanks to extra long first stint , waiting for the rain. Probably the best result achievable in that car. Now full money on 2023 as I'm a few points ahead of Aston.

 

[alx42]

I didn't even get anywhere close to the Aston's over the back half of the year. Thinking the board (for the first season at least), might be a little lenient on you. Because while I didn't reach the season goal, I still had a high confidence rating at the end of the year review.

It probably helped that I upgraded the board room and all the other staff facilities to level 4 as well.

Even though Aston out scored me in points at the final race of season 1 by two points (Albon spun out while in P9 on lap 57. Giovinazzi finished P9. Vettel finished P8. Stroll DNF'd). The board was happy with my race result, yet disappointed in the constructors standings. Overall confidence is still high for the start of season 2, yet now they want the team to finish 6th or better in constructors' standings. One heck of a jump in standards!

 

[Fezzik]

It probably helped that I upgraded the board room and all the other staff facilities to level 4 as well.

Even though Aston out scored me in points at the final race of season 1 by two points (Albon spun out while in P9 on lap 57. Giovinazzi finished P9. Vettel finished P8. Stroll DNF'd). The board was happy with my race result, yet disappointed in the constructors standings. Overall confidence is still high for the start of season 2, yet now they want the team to finish 6th or better in constructors' standings. One heck of a jump in standards!

How’s Gio done for you? As I’m trying to be be semi-realistic with recruitment, Piastri is a no-go for Latifi’s seat so it’s a toss-up between De Vries and Giovinazzi. I don’t want to use one of the real kids.

 

[alx42]

How’s Gio done for you? As I’m trying to be be semi-realistic with recruitment, Piastri is a no-go for Latifi’s seat so it’s a toss-up between De Vries and Giovinazzi. I don’t want to use one of the real kids.

Gio's done well for season 1. His pace is the same as Albon when they're both on the same tire and fuel load. Gio's car setup is easier to get right than Albon. The biggest differences between the two is their defending, aggressiveness, and braking. During the start of the race, Gio usually passes more cars than Albon, yet Gio may lose a spot or two because he doesn't defend well. Gio's braking is not as strong as Albon's, so he may lock up more. And with all of this being said, he scored more points than Albon within less time (I started him after Canada to replace Latifi).

Here's two snippets of their current stats and current drivers standings before the start of race 1, season 2. Their stats might be a bit different from yours because of the development points they've gained over the past season.

If you want more growth and longevity, I have a feeling DeVries might be the better pick. You'll just need to develop him a bit. I'm doing that now with Vesti for season 2. I acquired Vesti to replace Aitken. Hopefully for season 3, I will be able to start Vesti.

 

[Spacegoat]

First race of '23 went pretty well. Was able to keep Gasly in the RBR DRS train for the majority of the race. Big thanks to Max for spinning out with 5 laps to go and to Perez's tires for falling under 30% with a couple of laps left.

yet now they want the team to finish 6th or better in constructors' standings. One heck of a jump in standards!

I've not got much better. They want me to score points in half of the races. For a team that hasn't done much in a decade or more, the board sure does expect a lot after year 1.