F1 Manager 2022F1 22

[Spacegoat]

I'm yet to experience AI running out of fuel but did get the rain thing last night at the Red Bull Ring. It got me my first (and no doubt only) win of the year with Ricciardo, so I can't complain about it.

But it's good that these issues are being fixed quickly, rather than waiting for the next big update.

 

[Fezzik]

I'm yet to experience AI running out of fuel but did get the rain thing last night at the Red Bull Ring. It got me my first (and no doubt only) win of the year with Ricciardo, so I can't complain about it.

But it's good that these issues are being fixed quickly, rather than waiting for the next big update.

I think the fuel DNFs only happen in later seasons with mostly the RBR engines (apparently a lot of the AI teams switch).

Odd problem in my Alfa career. Bottas is so good he’s getting regular top 5s, but that triggers his race bonus which wipes out most of the sponsor payouts. I’m getting great results but have no money! Zhou keeps spinning and locking up when you even think of pushing ( I swear it’s at least twice a race), so it’s getting hard to make any car or facility upgrades.

I abandoned the other McLaren career, no fun, and started a new Williams save to alternate with Alfa. Broke my no-poaching rule and stole Mick from Haas (they don’t want him anyway, his replacement there is Goatifi !). 5 year contract for young Schumi, let’s see how far I can develop him. May stick a kid in seat 2 after Albon’s contract expires, he’s a bit expensive (as is Gasly) until we are in the points. Renault engines from year 2 to bring back the classic combo. First target will be to beat the factory team.

 

[Spacegoat]

Odd problem in my Alfa career. Bottas is so good he’s getting regular top 5s, but that triggers his race bonus which wipes out most of the sponsor payouts.

I'm having that exact same problem with my McLaren save, now that the cars are inside the points regularly.

And I heard that the majority of the AI do tend to switch to RBR engines over the years. Probably explains why my top speed is never good. Was going to switch to Renault after this first season (from memory they have a slight performance advantage over the Merc unit) but I'll probably have to follow the other teams, just to keep up.

 

[EamerRed]

Signed Piastri for McLaren and my word, he has become dog****e. I'm in the third season and he is crashing every race, and I mean every race. I'm not sure if there's some bug or some hidden attribute but I'm going to have to ditch him, even though I've improved his stats considerably.

 

[Fezzik]

You can really tell which stats the game is looking at to simulate each driver's pace. I signed up Logan Sargeant to Williams' reserve slot (as he's their real-life academy driver and could be in the car next year). He is straight away as fast as Schumacher & Albon, no attribute upgrades yet. Their important speed stats:

Albon - COR 73, BRK 81, REA 79, ACC 75
Schumacher - COR 73, BRK 73, REA 75, ACC 80
Sargeant - COR 63, BRK 79, REA 83, ACC 85

Braking means so much in this game to the lap times (plus it helps with the lockups), reactions as well. Cornering isn't as much of an issue, weirdly.

 

[Maximum11]

Just completed a rainy Austrian GP in Season 2 with Williams. Managed to finish 4th (!!!) with Albon! I should have finished on the podium , but Leclerc hit me pretty hard on turn 1, no damage suffered but a good 7 seconds lost and 20% of the tires, forcing me to stay on Standard... Albon also locked brakes early on, as usual in this game. Stroll in a AT finished on the podium 1 sec ahead of me. Piastri finished 13th after spinning early in the race and destroying a front wing... Somehow it was much harder for him to come back up the field. Hopefully I'll have some upgrades soon as my car is currently only better than the Astons and one AT , one Haas...

Quite a funny race, the first half was dry/wet/slightly wet/dry and starting the middle of it, with Albon 2nd, fully dry. My hopes to stay up there were low but the IA had a weird strategy to put Soft tires on at 36th lap of 71. Obviously Hard till the end was the way to go.

I hope they fix the SC letting go latecomers anytime soon, or at least the ability to overtake a guy that is one lap ahead...

 

[alx42]

Just completed a rainy Austrian GP in Season 2 with Williams. Managed to finish 4th (!!!) with Albon! I should have finished on the podium , but Leclerc hit me pretty hard on turn 1, no damage suffered but a good 7 seconds lost and 20% of the tires, forcing me to stay on Standard... Albon also locked brakes early on, as usual in this game. Stroll in a AT finished on the podium 1 sec ahead of me. Piastri finished 13th after spinning early in the race and destroying a front wing... Somehow it was much harder for him to come back up the field. Hopefully I'll have some upgrades soon as my car is currently only better than the Astons and one AT , one Haas...

Quite a funny race, the first half was dry/wet/slightly wet/dry and starting the middle of it, with Albon 2nd, fully dry. My hopes to stay up there were low but the IA had a weird strategy to put Soft tires on at 36th lap of 71. Obviously Hard till the end was the way to go.

I feel ya. Albon almost won there during my 3rd season, yet Perez would get him under DRS every time. So he ended up finishing second. My second driver, Zhou, was taken out by Stroll at turn 4 which caused a safety car halfway through the event.

Yet I was able to get Albon a win at Austin last night. First one of my career. I was able to beat Verstappen by pit strategy during the dry/wet/dry event.

Hopefully you'll get a win during another mix conditions event.

 

[alx42]

Not sure if the y'all have experienced this, yet I've noticed after a full effort suspension upgrade or fully focusing on low speed downforce, brake lock-ups tend to be less. Not fully remedied, yet less than previous.

I do remember reading on other forums and within the game that if you're able to increase brake cooling, it should reduce the amount of lock-ups as well.

 

[Maximum11]

Not sure if the y'all have experienced this, yet I've noticed after a full effort suspension upgrade or fully focusing on low speed downforce, brake lock-ups tend to be less. Not fully remedied, yet less than previous.

I do remember reading on other forums and within the game that if you're able to increase brake cooling, it should reduce the amount of lock-ups as well.

Yes I was wondering if the game was smart enough to link these aspects. Good thing if it does!

They need to ask a bit of uncertainety in FP1/2/3 it's not uncommon to have massive issues preventing the drivers to run at all , or only 30/45 minutes. And we desperately need more crashes, more retirements.

 

[Spacegoat]

'22 done with McLaren and I cruised past the board's goal of 6th in the end, thanks to Dan picking a win at the Red Bull Ring in the rain and Lando winning at Singapore due to a late safety car. Dan also scored two 3rds at Paul Ricard and COTA.

However I feel like I may have either, gone overboard with the research by giving up on making new parts halfway thru the season, or mucking around with the sliders is a little OP. The car's stats to start the '23 season off. 🤭

Switched to Renault power units. Aston have switched to RBR and amusingly, so has Alfa Romeo.

Keep with this save just to see how the season goes. But I'm thinking of mucking around with Alpine a bit, alongside this. Seems like a decent car initially. And I want to stay around the midfield battle for a bit longer rather than just going straight to the front.

 

[Fezzik]

We'll see how different my 2022 results will end up - same team but just using preset sliders for new parts. Been concentrating on low speed and cooling, hopefully see some improvements in those areas for 2023. Nowhere close to winning or even consistent points yet, but still waiting for some upgrades in the 2nd half of the season. Probably have to keep developing at least one part all year long, no full research. Ferrari engines next year! Will also be able to see just how much difference staff make, as the best aero guy (Tondi) will be a free agent so I can sign him without breaking my no-poach rule.

The latest hotfix is out:

 

[alx42]

They need to ask a bit of uncertainety in FP1/2/3 it's not uncommon to have massive issues preventing the drivers to run at all , or only 30/45 minutes. And we desperately need more crashes, more retirements.

I agree. For example, I wish they broke down the replacement power unit parts like how they're in F1 2020 - turbo, MGU-K, MGU-H, ICE, ECU, etc. which can be replaced during practice, or fail out right because they're worn parts.

 

[Maximum11]

I agree. For example, I wish they broke down the replacement power unit parts like how they're in F1 2020 - turbo, MGU-K, MGU-H, ICE, ECU, etc. which can be replaced during practice, or fail out right because they're worn parts.

Exactly. A bit strange this game does not reach the level of detail that has been introduced by the F1 series years ago.

 

[Spacegoat]

We'll see how different my 2022 results will end up - same team but just using preset sliders for new parts.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see the differences.

Did the first race with Alpine last night and think they actually might end up being my long term save. The board goal of 4th in the constructors is dead easy, seeing as the cars right away aren't that far behind the Mercs. Decent staff as well, means I probably won't have to spend any money there.

Will also be able to see just how much difference staff make, as the best aero guy (Tondi) will be a free agent so I can sign him without breaking my no-poach rule.

I signed Tondi, when I noticed he was available. Just be warned that he is super expensive. He wouldn't take anything less than 5mill a year.

 

[Fezzik]

I signed Tondi, when I noticed he was available. Just be warned that he is super expensive. He wouldn't take anything less than 5mill a year.

He was on 5.3 at Ferrari, so yeah not likely to take a paycut
The progression for staff is so slow, even with the upgraded hub, it makes more sense to just sign the very top guys and not touch the facility - likely ends up cheaper.
Actually restarted the Mclaren career because of this, had wasted some money on unneccesary building upgrades. Turned out to be a good thing - got a very unexpected 7th and 8th in race 1 thanks to a Russell-Tsunoda collision. Going to zoom through the first season this weekend so I can see what effect the research & Ferrari power has on the new car.

 

[alx42]

Makes sense to hire new Technical & Aero heads from other teams to progress faster through the game. I didn't think of this when I started with Williams, yet I did replace the original guys with the best free agents at the time - Ti Chong and Sabine Bauer. After 3 seasons with them, I was able to up their overall ranking by 4 points. I placed their development points into the same areas that have the most effect on the car (underfloor, front wing, rear wing, low/medium/high speed downforce).

 

[alx42]

I'm probably missing something here, yet when you pick a PU supplier for a new season, where does it draw money from? I never really paid attention to it till I got this screen last night when starting my 4th season. I had a brief moment of panic, and decided to switch to Renault to save "money" (plus I got tired of adding max fuel to the car every event and monitoring the fuel consumption like a hawk) yet my balance didn't change on the screen afterwards.

Yet overall the switch to Renault appears to be good for now (only ran at Bahrain).

 

[Fezzik]

What a flippin race this was

Started dry, got wet, got very wet, got dry. Danny crashed out early, took out 3 cars and caused the first of a few safety cars. Lando was flying in the rain. Made some “bold” strategy calls (yes, SIX stops). had him in the lead behind the safety car with 10 laps to go. Unfortunately it had dried out and he was a sitting duck - only race 3, no upgrades yet.

Maybe I should upgrade the weather centre a bit, was basically guessing at points when the rain would come. Though I did make it a lot more entertaining.

I wonder if we can get this livery in an update - think it’s coming to the other game.

 

[Fezzik]

Oh Canada !

First win, halfway through the first season. A bit of a cliche that a British outfit has built a car that only excels when it rains. Still only 8th fastest team on the straights but it is strong in the low speed stuff.

Original plan was eventually to sign up Leclerc as dual leader, but Lando is proving good enough to be the main focus. Danny has got better as the car improves, he was awful in the starting tank and already wrote off 2 engines and 2 gearboxes. Not sure yet if he’ll survive into year 2.

 

[Spacegoat]

Original plan was eventually to sign up Leclerc as dual leader, but Lando is proving good enough to be the main focus.

Yeah, putting points into cornering and braking turns Lando into a beast pretty quickly.

I'm just still mucking around with Alpine. Planning on letting Alonso walk at the end of the year and promoting Piastri. Ocon, I'm still undecided whether he's worth keep long term. His smoothness rating is insane but he's lacking in raw pace.

 

[Fezzik]

Yeah, putting points into cornering and braking turns Lando into a beast pretty quickly.

I'm just still mucking around with Alpine. Planning on letting Alonso walk at the end of the year and promoting Piastri. Ocon, I'm still undecided whether he's worth keep long term. His smoothness rating is insane but he's lacking in raw pace.

I put Lando's points into reactions. It hasn't bumped up his overall rating but he's getting better results - much faster off the line and making more successful overtakes now. He's just slipped behind Lewis in the drivers standings now, but still best outside of the big 3 teams and ahead of Russell. Daniel is still making mistakes, he is definitely leaving at the end of the year. Undecided on his replacement.

Last couple of upgrades will be ready for Monza or Singapore, then it's all research. Currently 4th in the standings, way clear of AlphaTauri for the target of 6th - plus some regs changes make it worthwile to finish a bit lower this year.

 

[Maximum11]

Damn can't wait to finish Season 2 with Wiliams and benefit from all the research / facilities improvements I have been doing this year. I need to get the 15 engineers and get some serious perfo.

I expect good improvement next year but that all depends how much the others are improving. I'll probably switch to the most powerful engine, no matter what. In the current meta we need to stay in the DRS train at all costs, and I lack speed in straight to do that in all conditions.

Got a disappointing Monza race, I thought everybody was on a 2 stop strategy, all pitting very early , but no they all did 1 stop only, finishing the race at 24% or so. I did a proper 1 stop strategy, so overcutting all the grid, finishing at around 42% but I was not even faster than Stroll with less than 30% during 5 laps at that point... This still needs fixing, we need so much more tire perfo delta for instance to create the gap above 1 second.

 

[alx42]

I'm just still mucking around with Alpine. Planning on letting Alonso walk at the end of the year and promoting Piastri. Ocon, I'm still undecided whether he's worth keep long term. His smoothness rating is insane but he's lacking in raw pace.

How much is Alonso' contract? He's now a free agent during my 4th season, and I will like to hire him to replace Albon, yet I don't know how much money he's asking for. I did a detailed scouting report on him, yet it tells me nothing about his contract requirements.

 

[Fezzik]

Working my way through the season is taking a lot longer than I thought. Probably should fast-forward a bit more in races, but it seems that’s when the cars are more likely to bunch up in DRS trains.

Final upgrades on the car for Suzuka (using only the presets, no fiddling with sliders).

Never been able to boost the top speed much, but the focus instead on cooling and low speed has paid off. Few lockups now and good regular points everywhere but the pure power tracks. Solidly 4th in the table between Mercedes and Alpine.

Parts facilities all up to level 3, will try and upgrade them all to 4 next season.

The tyre deg patch has massively improved the game. So much more involving now you have to watch wear and lap times, rather than just waiting for the 30% cliff. A few times now I’ve pitted late for fresh tyres and managed to chase down cars ahead. Also thrown away a few points with dodgy calls - I should work for Ferrari.

 

[Spacegoat]

How much is Alonso' contract? He's now a free agent during my 4th season, and I will like to hire him to replace Albon, yet I don't know how much money he's asking for. I did a detailed scouting report on him, yet it tells me nothing about his contract requirements.

Had to start up a new game quickly because I never looked at what Alonso was being paid before I let him walk. He's on just over 5mill, initially. Surprised that he's still around 4yrs in. Thought he would have retired after the 2nd or 3rd.

 

[Maximum11]

That end of season 2 with Williams is getting harder, I think the car is worth the 19th place is most areas, apart from one or 2 where it is 15th. Yet, Albon finished 7th in Austin in a dry race (but a looot of multiple car incidents), overtaking both Zhou and Perez (!!) in the main straight in the last lap. Comfortably in the 7th spot after finishing 8th the year before, but they passed a change of rules decreasing quite a lot the rewards for teams from 4th to 8th, increasing for 1st to 3rd, how unfair!

Albon is quite a beast in race mode I think , probably worth keeping him long term and reaching his potential. I'd push his stats in tire wear and ability to still be fast in changing conditions (is it called adaptability?). Piastri potential is in raw speed but he needs to get (much) better at preserving tires (as Leclerc IRL). In the back Pourchaire is now 75, but what to do with him long term? Wait for a team to seduce him and cash in?

2 races to go and 2024 season

 

[alx42]

Had to start up a new game quickly because I never looked at what Alonso was being paid before I let him walk. He's on just over 5mill, initially. Surprised that he's still around 4yrs in. Thought he would have retired after the 2nd or 3rd.

Thank you! 5 million... I offered him a contract for 2 seasons at 8 million at the beginning of the season, yet he declined it. Guess I gotta shoot for 10-12 million. Yet now that I say this, Albon finished 3rd place in three consecutive races (Silverstone, Red Bull Ring, Paul Ricard), while Zhou has been finishing anywhere between 4th-10th. Zhou gave me a win at Barcelona, while Albon has yet to win this season. Guess I might as well keep Albon till the very end of the season.

I thought the same, yet him & Ocon stayed till the start of 2025. Ocon went to Alfa Romeo (which is now using RBP PUs) with Gasly. Alpine now has the combo of Magnussen & Jack Doohan. Their car is outright fast, yet both of their drivers tend to make a major mistake during the race (Doohan more-so than Magnussen), so their point total is not as high as it could be. I'm fighting with them for 3rd place in the constructors championship, while Red Bull and Ferrari are in another league.

Surprisingly, Hamilton retired for 2025 after spending one season at Alfa Romeo. I offered him a bigger contract than Alonso, yet he declined it. He later announced his retirement right before the Bahrain weekend.

 

[Spacegoat]

Piastri potential is in raw speed but he needs to get (much) better at preserving tires (as Leclerc IRL).

Yeah, even without touching his performance stats. Piastri is quick straight away. All the development points I've got with him so far, I've put into his smoothness and he's has out qualified Ocon in the first three races of '23. Going to get his smoothness up to 75-80 before focusing on other aspects.

Thank you! 5 million... I offered him a contract for 2 seasons at 8 million at the beginning of the season, yet he declined it. Guess I gotta shoot for 10-12 million.

Real life Alpine must have good finance department because I had to give Ocon a big pay rise to get him to renew his contract so I could swap him to the #1 car and put Piastri in the #2 (realize car numbers probably don't matter but it made more sense to me to have them in that order).

 

[Fezzik]

Real life Alpine must have good finance department because I had to give Ocon a big pay rise to get him to renew his contract so I could swap him to the #1 car and put Piastri in the #2 (realize car numbers probably don't matter but it made more sense to me to have them in that order).

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Renegotiating Lando's contract to put him in car 1. Must be an OCD thing but it just irks me having the lower rated driver there. Also lets me change his bonus, only going to pay him for podiums from now on.

 

[Fezzik]

Season 1 in the books, easily cleared the board target even after stopping development.

The 1-2 in Canada was the only podium of the year. Most of the time spent battling for the minor points, a few good positions thrown away by both drivers. Leclerc winning the title also changed his mind about joining us, so onto plan B.

Lando-Nando !!
Alonso back for another (final) stint - third time lucky? He’s got the seat until he decides to retire. Vesti is working on his braking as reserve.

Switched to the Ferrari engines for this year. Still nowhere close to fastest on the straights but all my aero focus seems to have paid off. Who needs slider fiddling.

Should be a fun 2nd season. Danny is now at Alpine, Alfa have the monstrous lineup of Bottas and Gasly, Seb and Alex are back in the RB family at AlphaTauri, Stroll is at Williams with Zhou, Yuki and Mick at Aston, Piastri took the Haas seat. So long Latifi.

Board want 4th or better. I think we can take down the Mercs and pick up a win or two along the way.