The game is finally here and it's time for an F1 Manager 2022 Beginner's Guide.
We absolutely love F1 Manager 2022, as you can read about in our review, but as a brand new game it can be a little daunting. It's also the first Formula 1 management for a long time so there is a lot to get to grips with for fans.
So if you are a brand new F1 fan or just want some tips for getting started, you're in the right place!
F1 Manager 2022 beginner's guide
Once you've decided on your team and your name, you need to pick if you want the tutorial on or off.
While this can be changed in the settings at any point in your save, it will take you through the basics when you get started.
However, there is one thing to keep in mind. If you use the tutorials it will simulate the first practice session in Bahrain for you, which is actually a little detrimental to your race weekend.
We recommend having it off, but then going for an explore around the whole game before your first race weekend.
Hiring & firing
Once you're into your save the first thing you should do is head over to the Drivers tab and see if you need to make any changes.
If you've already got some of the best drivers in F1 Manager 2022 then there is no reason to change your lineup. However, you might one to grab one of the best young drivers in the game before your rivals do!
It's not just drivers that you need to consider though, there are four members of staff to sort out as well.
Technical Chiefs impact every mechanical part your team designs, while the Head of Aerodynamics influence the aero parts.
Race Engineers talk to your drivers during the race and influence the speed of setup feedback as well as the speed of pitstops, so having the best Race Engineers is very important.
Firing drivers and staff can be costly, but you are best off going into the season with the right people in the team so it is definitely worthwhile.
Once the personnel is sorted, it's time to get the facilities up to scratch.
A new lick of paint
Facilities is broken up into three parts, all of which impact the development of your car and personnel.
Car Development Facilities is where you can upgrade your factory, wind tunnel, and other R&D and manufacturing facilities. This will impact the gains from each upgrade, the capacity of the team to work on multiple projects, and the speed at which jobs get done.
Upgrading your factory to make sure parts get built quicker can be a lifesaver if you have a particularly crash-happy race in the middle of a triple-header. The wind tunnel is also a great one to upgrade as it will boost the impact of your tests during research and development.
Car Development Facilities upgrades are very expensive though, so you are only going to be able to pick one when you start, so choose wisely!
Staff facilities impact team reputation, staff happiness, and the experience your staff members gain, which goes toward new points for their attributes.
We recommend upgrading the Race Simulator first as this will increase the experience your drivers get every week.
Finally, there is Operations Facilities. These don't impact performance on the track so are less important at first. However, you can improve your weather reporting accuracy here, as well as building more team attractiveness and encouraging more sponsors.
Outside of the weather reports though, this is more of a consideration if you are already doing well on race day!
Carbon fibre life
You can't go racing just yet!
Before you continue even a day, you need to start the process of improving your car.
Depending on which team you pick to play as you will have a pool of CFD MAU hours and wind tunnel hours at your disposal to test and create new parts for your 2022 car.
You should start by designing at least one upgrade. This can really be any of the six options, but you should pick a focus that starts to fix some of the weaknesses of your team.
If you've got a low top speed then work sidepods with reduced drag. If you're struggling with mid-speed cornering then a new front wing should be the priority.
Whatever it is, get the design project underway before you head to the first race!
Race weekend
That was a lot to do, but now the real job begins with the race preparation!
Here you need to set performance targets for the weekend. You can change these before every race so don't worry about being too precise - just make sure they are achievable.
Guaranteeing a Q3 appearance with Williams will go badly and cost you money, so keep things realistic.
With those set you head to the track and take your place on the pitwall. The biggest job you have is getting the setup of the cars right before Sunday.
You can check out our setup guide for a more detailed look, but this basically boils down to creating a car balance that your drivers are comfortable with. You're not chasing a meta setup or anything, just what your drivers like.
Once you have a balance your drivers like, it's all about getting them acclimatised to the car and the track.
You want to try and get the circled numbers up to 100%, as this gives your drivers more confidence and better attributes for the race!
In qualifying you will need to be careful of traffic. The AI isn't great at getting out of the way when they are on slow laps and you are on a flying lap.
When it comes to the race, make sure you aren't burning through your ERS unnecessarily. It can be easily done, but will leave you highly vulnerable.
Tyres are a bit of a wildcard factor. Performance drop off starts slowly but at around 50% you'll see a decline in pace and at 30% you are in real trouble.
While softs are obviously quicker than mediums and hards, the delta between compounds isn't too big on raceday, so you can play with strategy a little bit.