F1 Manager 2022

[Spacegoat]

Damn the car is slow. Ran 1-stoppers and still barely got one car in the points. Doesn’t seem like there’s a way to improve it year 1, so basically punting the power tracks and concentrating on low speed and cooling upgrades.

Those are the areas I really struggled with in my first attempt with McLaren, even a couple of seasons in. Think I was just too fixated on improving top speed.

And man, it is a real struggle with the car initially, I didn't score my first points until Australia. Lando was able to just sneak into the points with a 9th. It's no surprise that the AI never has done anything good with them.

In between seasons do we have enough time to Design and Manufacture all new parts or should we start already last in the previous seasons? At the moment I'm only doing Research.

Yeah, there's a 5-6 week period before the Bahrain GP where you can design and install new parts for the car. And totally agree about the tires. I don't even bother with using soft tires for the races anymore, there's no point when you can go just as quick and longer with the medium/hards. It's something that the update should fix though.

 

[Fezzik]

Those are the areas I really struggled with in my first attempt with McLaren, even a couple of seasons in. Think I was just too fixated on improving top speed.

And man, it is a real struggle with the car initially, I didn't score my first points until Australia. Lando was able to just sneak into the points with a 9th. It's no surprise that the AI never has done anything good with them.

Forget Williams, McLaren is the real hard mode. Expectations are so far above the reality of the car. Doesn’t help that Bottas is a god in the Alfa, they’ll be so far ahead in the standings by the time my first upgrades arrive. Will have a new front wing by Miami and underfloor at Barcelona. If that doesn’t get me in the points, year one is likely doomed - hopefully the bosses will overlook it if I bribe them with a fancy upgraded board room.

Engine supplier swap is an absolute must, the Merc is so underpowered. A 3rd RBR/Honda team would bring nice balance to the grid. Give me an advantage over the Alpines and Alfas as well (and maybe the Silver Arrows themselves).

 

[Spacegoat]

Doesn’t help that Bottas is a god in the Alfa

Bottas and I would keep an eye on Gasly as well. Those were the two that really annoyed me the most in my first season with McLaren. Alpha Tauri really came on strong in the second half of the year. The mid pack battle would be a lot easier without them.

Do think that McLaren may actually be more of a challenge than Williams, just because of the board's expectations. Williams are at least realistic about where they want the car to be in terms of the long term goal.

 

[Fezzik]

First double points at Imola, a bit unexpected. Checo crashed into Danny in FP1, wrecked one of my new front wings with no spare ready, so DR only started 15th. Lando had the upgrade and 15/15 practice bonus but only managed 13th, he’s been an early letdown.

Was probably struggling for points but light rain came and I got onto the inters quick. Pretty static until the final few laps when it dried up and all the AI drivers pitted. I stayed out as it was only 3 laps left and gladly took P7 & P8.

I hope the update doesn’t need a new save, as I’m liking this one and probably will finish season 1 by the end of next week. Settled on my Woking neighbours as the long-term run, hopefully Norris will improve with a bit of training or I may need a new Number 1. Hamilton’s contract expires same time as Ricciardo, maybe I can persuade Lewis to go full circle and retire where he started.

 

[Fezzik]

Big update is out

 

[Maximum11]

I haven't seen any change on my Williams save after the patch, apart that my car seems to eat its tires compared to my usual oponents...

 

[Fezzik]

McLaren board expectation is only 6th now for the first year, which is a bit more realistic. Started a new save and seems like the midfield teams are all closer together to start, the Alfas aren’t off racing with the leaders now. From the posts on Reddit, seems like there’s a new bug with the AI running out of fuel on some tracks. Hasn’t happened in my races yet.

 

[Spacegoat]

I've finished off the '24 season now with Williams. And yeah, it went better than expected.

Still can't work out how the cars were so good, considering that the only stats inside the top ten were low/medium/high speed cornering and brake cooling (maybe that's all you need?). Cannot for the life of me figure out to generate top speed. Even with all the research I do. It was ranked decently (12th) to start the year off but fell away later on.

And well, looks like I'm going back to McLaren again now the update is out. I want to take it a lot slower this time, instead of just fast forwarding thru most of the races. Hopefully the tire improvements will mean some actual strategy for a change, rather than just the same old medium/hard, hard/medium one stop, set pace to "aggressive" all the way strat and make for more entertaining races.

 

[Fezzik]

There is actual tyre strategy now. Lap times drop as the wear increases, softs are faster than mediums or hards in same condition. Can’t just burn through all my softs now in practise and qualification. All the old plans out the window.

Driver smoothness may actually be a factor now, some of the rookies are going to be much slower and need more stops.

 

[Maximum11]

Anyone has an idea as to why we cannot chose the tire we want in Free Practice? They seem to force you to use the Medium or Hard (tire needs to last at least 22 laps) ??. Pretty sure that's not a rule in F1. And it leaves you with only 1 set or medium and hard for the race, fantastic...

 

[alx42]

Can confirm after running through Miami and Barcelona last night, the tire strategy is a game changer. For these two, there was a .3s-.4s difference between each compound (at 100%), and the rate of degradation is higher than previous (so lap times will vary by 3s+ depending on condition). So you really need to pit once you go below 50% tire life (unless you still have a competitive pace).

Setting the driver's pace to aggressive or attack for the entire race may not be feasible anymore. It might be best to up their pace during their pit window, or during different portions within a stint to build or maintain a gap. And if you have a non-RBP/Honda PU, max out the fuel demand more often to make up some time.

 

[alx42]

Anyone has an idea as to why we cannot chose the tire we want in Free Practice? They seem to force you to use the Medium or Hard (tire needs to last at least 22 laps) ??. Pretty sure that's not a rule in F1. And it leaves you with only 1 set or medium and hard for the race, fantastic...

You should be able to choose which tire you want to start free practice. If you're simulating it, then the AI will make some weird decisions after your initial choice. If you manage the entire session, you can pick and choose which tires you want to run.

 

[Fezzik]

Anyone has an idea as to why we cannot chose the tire we want in Free Practice? They seem to force you to use the Medium or Hard (tire needs to last at least 22 laps) ??. Pretty sure that's not a rule in F1. And it leaves you with only 1 set or medium and hard for the race, fantastic...

the game is saying that the tyre compound you are picking can’t do the number of laps you’ve set for that run. if you drop the number of laps, usually under 20, you can then use the softs. you can see the estimated lifespan of each type of tyre in the compounds screen.

there are also the proper F1 rules about amounts of each compound available, some reserved for race, etc.

 

[Spacegoat]

If you're simulating it, then the AI will make some weird decisions after your initial choice

Yeah, just a quick PSA. Do not let the AI handle Q1 for you. It'll use two sets of softs for the session instead of one. Learnt that the had way.

Driver smoothness may actually be a factor now, some of the rookies are going to be much slower and need more stops.

If that is the case. Was planning on keeping Danny Ric this time around but he might out of a job again after the way he drove at Bahrain. Two lock ups and a spin.

Lando managed to finish just outside the points in 12th but Danny was a long behind in 15th. On the surface 6th in the constructors as the season board objective, doesn't sound too hard. But the cars at the start are so awful. Forgot exactly how bad they are. I'm planning all my updates with the back half of the season in my mind, concentrating on low speed cornering mainly.

Setting the driver's pace to aggressive or attack for the entire race may not be feasible anymore.

Feels like the Attack and Aggressive commands are totally not worth even touching anymore. They just use up so much of the tire. Probably better off pushing on fuel instead and deploying ERS when you can.

 

[alx42]

Feels like the Attack and Aggressive commands are totally not worth even touching anymore. They just use up so much of the tire. Probably better off pushing on fuel instead and deploying ERS when you can.

Pretty much. I really noticed it while doing the weekends of Monaco and Baku tonight. Asked both of my guys to attack during their pit window, and the time gap was increasing instead.

Even though I've only messed with Albon, Lattifi, Giovinazzi, and Zhou (hired him to replace Gio for season 3), I've noticed the first three really need their ERS managed. Zhou is aggressive enough to just go for passes, and most of the time they work. If I set his ERS to any of the plus modes, he'll blow through it really quick. I guess this is the advantage of having a driver with a high aggression level.

 

[Maximum11]

the game is saying that the tyre compound you are picking can’t do the number of laps you’ve set for that run. if you drop the number of laps, usually under 20, you can then use the softs. you can see the estimated lifespan of each type of tyre in the compounds screen.

there are also the proper F1 rules about amounts of each compound available, some reserved for race, etc.

Really? The way it is designed , it looks totally like a rule imposed to us. I usually put more fuel in the car, on purpose. I know what kind of tires I'm putting on... That's really poorly designed.

 

[Fezzik]

On the surface 6th in the constructors as the season board objective, doesn't sound too hard. But the cars at the start are so awful. Forgot exactly how bad they are.

The car is absolutely horrendous to start, and the first upgrades don't make much difference. I had new front and rear wings, Lando on mediums running aggresive and max fuel, and yet he was still 1 sec a lap slower than the hard tyre Alpines. It's not much fun. I'm debating doing a Haas and just punting the whole season to concentrate on research. Or maybe just going with Haas themselves.

That actually sounds like a good plan - Project Mick. Keep him in car 1 as long as it takes to win the title. It may actually be doable - his growth potential is basically the same as Leclerc, Russell and Norris, just starting from a much lower base.

 

[Maximum11]

The current patch seems to take quite some performance away from us. I just did Australia , there was no way I could do a 1 stopper, but most of the grid did. I even got ultra lucky when Piastri crashed into an Aston, lost a front wing, led to SC, but he managed to pit instantly and he got the full benefit of a free pit stop under SC (!!). Same for Albon. So both now very high up the rankings, 6/7 , fighting with Red Bull, Ferrari during a good 10/15 laps really, but with still a final pit-stop to make. Because I was merely the only one with 2-pit stop stategy, they finish the race 12 and 13. the guys in front were as fast as me running Medium at 55% , them with Hard at 33%... Something is still very wrong with tire performance. Not sure as to why the IA tire performance curve is so desperately flat and not exponential as the % decreases.

I agree that Agressive and Attack will now just burn your tires faster and that's useless as anyway, outside of DRS zones it's very difficult to overtake. I would use Attack only at the last lap before pitting.

 

[Spacegoat]

The car is absolutely horrendous to start, and the first upgrades don't make much difference. I had new front and rear wings, Lando on mediums running aggresive and max fuel, and yet he was still 1 sec a lap slower than the hard tyre Alpines. It's not much fun.

Yeah, I feel like you really just have to take your medicine for the first few races of the season. Haven't bothered with a rear wing yet because for whatever reason, any rear wing I look at designing, doesn't improve the top speed at all (maybe I just need to throw all my wind tunnel time at it though? lol). So I've just gone for low speed underfloor, front wing and chasis to improve cooling instead.

Based on my initial save. Lando is quick enough to sneak into Q3 regularly, once the car is semi decent. It's just getting there is the problem.

 

[alx42]

Yeah, I feel like you really just have to take your medicine for the first few races of the season. Haven't bothered with a rear wing yet because for whatever reason, any rear wing I look at designing, doesn't improve the top speed at all (maybe I just need to throw all my wind tunnel time at it though? lol). So I've just gone for low speed underfloor, front wing and chasis to improve cooling instead.

I recommend you use all of your CFD and wind tunnel hours for the rear wing. Max out all the values, so when you make another version, you'll get a significant gain in performance. Then you can fine tune the next version of your rear wing. For example, here's an image of the stats for my second underfloor for the season that I started for ATR period 4.

 

[Spacegoat]

I recommend you use all of your CFD and wind tunnel hours for the rear wing. Max out all the values, so when you make another version, you'll get a significant gain in performance. Then you can fine tune the next version of your rear wing.

Oh, jeez. Wish I saw your post before I put a low speed rear wing into development. I've never maxed out all of the values on any parts I've made before. Is that the best way to do things? Because I normally just run with the default settings and "Intense" development, to try as much experience gain as I can out of it.

 

[Maximum11]

Oh, jeez. Wish I saw your post before I put a low speed rear wing into development. I've never maxed out all of the values on any parts I've made before. Is that the best way to do things? Because I normally just run with the default settings and "Intense" development, to try as much experience gain as I can out of it.

In the case of Williams I guess it's first important to fix the major weaknesses of cooling and low speed , focusing on developing the parts affecting that the most, before maybe prioritizing the strengths you want to give to the car, as opposed to having a car ok-ish in all characteristics. So, I think it maked sense to taylor a bit the design I'd say.

 

[Fezzik]

Running 2 alternate careers at the moment:

Alfa - good car, 1 good driver & staff member, everything else rubbish, no money

McLaren - crap car, decent drivers & facilities, staff ok and money ok

Will see which turns out best and more enjoyable. Alfa is all about making quick money from the sponsors to upgrade facilities and staff, so next year's car is somewhere close to the starter. Feels like a proper strategy game. Not really doing any new parts so far.
McLaren is just polishing a **** using the existing resources.

 

[alx42]

Oh, jeez. Wish I saw your post before I put a low speed rear wing into development. I've never maxed out all of the values on any parts I've made before. Is that the best way to do things? Because I normally just run with the default settings and "Intense" development, to try as much experience gain as I can out of it.

Short answer - yes. When you're on the Design Focus page, you can max out all the Focus values to the right. It's the equivalent of leaving all the values in the middle, yet with a bit more percentage (aka green) gain. Now to fully maximize the part, you can turn values all the way to right and left. For example, for the underfloor I made last night, I turned down the Airflow Sensitivity all the way to the left, yet turned the low/med/high speed downforce values to the right. This increased all levels of downforce across the board, while keeping Drag Reduction at 1st (I didn't touch this value).

You'll still want to use Intense during the part design, and use up all of the CFD and wind tunnel hours for the one part. Or you can split the hours in half if you want to develop two parts at the same time. I did this during my second season for Williams, and it worked. Was able to finish in the top 10 easily for the second half of the season. FYI - you can only use 6 engineers per part. So you'll need at least 15 engineers (a level 4 facility if I can remember correctly). Yet I was able to do it with a level 3 facility which maxes out at 10 engineers. Throw 6 on the major upgrade, and use the remaining 4 to see if they can make a minor upgrade to suspension or chassis since they take the least amount of time. Or if you plan to split your hours, 5 and 5 on each project.

 

[alx42]

Running 2 alternate careers at the moment:

Alfa - good car, 1 good driver & staff member, everything else rubbish, no money

McLaren - crap car, decent drivers & facilities, staff ok and money ok

Will see which turns out best and more enjoyable. Alfa is all about making quick money from the sponsors to upgrade facilities and staff, so next year's car is somewhere close to the starter. Feels like a proper strategy game. Not really doing any new parts so far.
McLaren is just polishing a **** using the existing resources.

Sounds like McLaren might be my new career in the future. lol. Are they the midfield team with the best budget/income?

 

[Fezzik]

Sounds like McLaren might be my new career in the future. lol. Are they the midfield team with the best budget/income?

No - Alpine, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri all start with a bigger budget. Someone on reddit made this chart:




Re parts development, I found that playing with the sliders to boost the numbers is what made the game a bit easy, vs just using the presets like balanced or optimised cooling. I'm only using those going forward, progress is slower but feels a bit more authentic - it takes more account of your staff and facilities.

 

[alx42]

No - Alpine, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri all start with a bigger budget. Someone on reddit made this chart:

Thank you for the resource. This is valuable information. I would've guessed the top 3 teams would've had better facilities, yet that doesn't appear to be the case. It makes my theory of fixing the organization from the inside out for season 1 worth while.

If I'm able to get Williams to finish 5th by the end of my third season, I should be able to get McLaren or Alpine to win the constructor's title in 3 years too.

 

[Maximum11]

I didn't realise, but Research is key to develop better parts; once you're allowed to do it. Skipping it seems wasting time and money in the long run.

 

[Spacegoat]

You'll still want to use Intense during the part design, and use up all of the CFD and wind tunnel hours for the one part. Or you can split the hours in half if you want to develop two parts at the same time.

Yeah, I've been splitting the CFD and wind tunnel into three (almost) equal parts (To develop two parts alongside researching one). I'll play around with the sliders a little bit next time, mainly on parts of the car that are lacking compared to the rest of the grid, like top speed and brake cooling.

I didn't realise, but Research is key to develop better parts; once you're allowed to do it. Skipping it seems wasting time and money in the long run.

1000%. Focusing sorely on research for the majority of the '22, with Williams. gave me a huge boost for '23.

 

[Fezzik]