Formula 1 is as much about what goes on off the track as it is about what happens when the lights go out. Success in the sport relies just as much on the car's design as it does on the driver's ability.
The same is true in F1 Manager 2024. The easiest way to race to victory is by perfecting the development of your most relied-on tool: the car.
This F1 Manager 2024 development guide will help you design your way to F1 success.
Developing decisions
Before diving into car development in F1 Manager 2024, it's crucial to know which areas of the car need developing. Wasting resources on parts that aren't required won't help, especially if you're managing a team towards the back of the grid.
Using the car analysis screen to compare how your car stacks up against the rest of the paddock is a good place to start. This way, you can prioritize the areas to focus on first.
It's also important to remember that certain tracks require certain performance levels. Monaco is a downforce-heavy circuit, while Monza, Silverstone, and Spa are all about straight-line speed. Therefore, keeping an eye on the calendar before committing to certain development projects is essential.
So with all that in mind, let's get into how to develop the car.
Success in design
Once you've established which areas of performance need improving, you need to see how each car component affects these areas. This ensures that you focus on the right areas of the car to upgrade performance in the areas you expect.
Straight-line pace is unlocked by improving the underfloor, front wing, and rear wing. The underfloor has the largest impact on pace output, while the rear wing has the least effect.
Sidepods, chassis, and suspension affect pace but not to the same extent. With the cost cap constantly hanging over you, it's not worth investing in these areas unless the rest of the car is perfect.
Cornering pace is dictated by downforce. Low, medium, and high speed are the main contributors, with airflow front and middle working as multipliers. High airflow front boosts low and medium corners, while high airflow middle boosts medium and high corners.
Maximizing both straight-line and cornering pace is crucial for pulling off overtakes. Straight-line speed will get your drivers alongside down the straights, and the cornering speed will get the move done before the apex.
Cool racing
As we've seen in recent years, cooling the car in Formula 1 is paramount. Whether it's stopping the engine from overheating or keeping the tyres in the optimum temperature range, cooling is often overlooked in F1 Manager.
Any development of the car should always factor in cooling. This could be the difference between running your engines at full power for longer during races or keeping the grip in the tyres for longer into a stint.
Keeping power unit components from degrading also enables you to run them in more races, reducing the risk of grid penalties for exceeding part usage. This also helps with the cost cap restrictions, reducing the need to produce emergency parts.
A fine science
Now you know how each component will improve the car, it might be tempting just to throw all your development resources into one area to try and achieve the best results. However, this could still compromise the car.
Different parts are weighted for different stats. The rear wing drag reduction for example, has a bigger impact on top speed than the same drag reduction increase in the suspension.
It's also important to develop the car evenly. One component with exceptional stats means nothing if the rest of the car is undeveloped. This also means waiting to apply multiple upgrades will benefit you more than just adding them when they are ready.
Time management
The final thing to consider when developing the car is time and resource management. Every team on the grid has computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel (WT) hours.
Teams have approximately two months to use up all their CFD and WT hours in each period, with any time left over unable to be used once the period has expired. It's therefore important to utilize them before they're gone.
These hours are split across both the current season's development time and the following season's research, so make sure you're focusing as much on the next year as you are on the current one. The first period of every season is limited to that season's development, so use this time wisely to focus on improving the car.
Design expertise
Design expertise is gained through every part of the car's development. These provide boosts for future development, so maximizing these stat boosts is important.
Expertise is gained over time, so longer development times benefit your designers more. The stat boost on the next part developed should compensate for the longer wait.
This is very similar to how development worked in F1 Manager 2023. It's more financially efficient to place a single designer on a project than to pack it out with as many team members as possible. This also allows more projects to be worked on simultaneously.
Once you've mastered the essentials of car development, you'll be reaping the rewards out on track in no time!
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