After F1 22, it’s F1 Manager 2022’s turn to take us to the heart of Formula 1. A management game with enticing graphics, but does the content manage to keep up?
Formula 1 fan, you have been following the 2022 season carefully for several months. Over the course of the Grands Prix, you have certainly said to yourself that with you at the helm of Ferrari, you would never have put the “hard” eraser on Charles Leclerc at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Or that, under your leadership, the Alpines of Alonso and Ocon would have wasted no time in tackling the Jeddah Grand Prix. Or maybe you have a revolutionary idea that would make Williams the best team in the paddock… In any case, you will now be able to prove yourself thanks to F1 Manager 2022!
Live my life as a stable boss
Developed and published by Frontier Developments, F1 Manager 2022 proposes to manage one of the ten current Formula 1 teams. Here, it is not a question of driving (for that you have to turn to F1 22), but of places its strategies at all levels (from the design of the car, to the racing strategies, including the facilities) to reach the heights. From the home screen, a reminder of the previous year puts us in the bath. Then, it is the real pilots who welcome us with very convincing graphics for a so-called management game. This is obviously the first argument of the game which, from its first promotional images, promised an impressive show in the race. Not at the level of F1 22 (logical), but more than enough to make you forget a Motorsport Manager.
After a summary of each team’s history and expectations, it’s time to make a choice. Chauvinism obliges, it is on the side of Alpine that we launched our first season. Thanks to a clear and effective tutorial, we easily take our marks on the dashboard. This is where we access our mailbox to be kept informed of important events, our calendar, but also the board of directors (with the objectives), the profile of the pilots (with the possibility of observing those of F2 and F3 to prepare for the future). Last but not least, it is from there that you can access the facilities and the cars. The two most important elements for the development of the stable.
To throw money around
Of course, there is no question of starting from scratch. The team already has its employees, but it is possible to replace them with other more efficient ones. Beware of the consequences though. A driver might not immediately get along with his new race engineer.
Then, throughout the season, it is important to improve both your vehicle and the facilities, while keeping an eye on next season. To do this, you must not hesitate to spend your budget to improve your factory or its wind tunnel, but also the facilities linked to the employees and the attractiveness of the team. Not much thought to have on this given the ease of obtaining money. It might be good for a future update to fix this. A wise idea all the same of the game is that once the maximum level has been reached, it will always be necessary to monitor these buildings which can, over time, deteriorate. They will then have to be refurbished to maintain optimal performance.
The best car for today and tomorrow
The other element not to be overlooked in F1 Manager 2022 is therefore the development of the car. Throughout the season, it is possible to improve certain parts such as the fins or the chassis. However, all of this takes time. And don’t expect after three races to go from the fourth force on the board to the first. Especially since with the regulations, the creation of new parts is limited. You can then only spend a certain number of hours in the wind tunnel to improve the aerodynamics of a future part. Depending on the time allocated, the performance of this piece will not be the same. It is therefore necessary to think about what must be designed in priority. There are a lot of figures to analyze here, but F1 Manager 2022 finds the right balance so as not to lose mechanical neophytes.
Finally, as mentioned above, the following season is also to be taken into account. It will thus be necessary to grant a few hours of wind tunnel to the research department so that the next vehicle is also at the level while respecting the regulatory standards. Note in passing that throughout the year you will have the opportunity to vote in favor or not of the new regulations.
This part of management and design is quite appreciable without being too difficult to manage. However, we regret that there are not as many things to take into account when it comes to pilots. The latter gain experience over the course of the races and thus improve their driving. It is then up to you to add where you want each point of experience acquired. But still pay attention to the recommendations that will be made to you. Because if your race engineer tells you that it would be good to improve your driver’s braking capacity, follow his advice or you risk seeing him make a mistake in the race directly related to this area.
Freewheeling pilots
Unfortunately, other than that, you won’t have much more interaction with your pilots. It might have been good for Frontier Developments to get some ideas from Football Manager where, as a coach, you sometimes have to reassure your players or discuss departure desires. We would have liked to be more solicited on these aspects and to have to answer questions for example or even to have the possibility of congratulating (or not) its employees after a race.
This lack of interaction is also found during each Grand Prix weekend. Before the start, it is a good idea to prepare as well as possible during free practice. Three stages during which you have to find the best configuration so that the drivers are comfortable with their car. There’s nothing very complicated for this, since all you have to do is choose a setting, send the pilots out on the track to chain the laps and call them back to rework the settings according to their feelings. The tests are quite long and not very exciting, but necessary to be as efficient as possible. Because even if it is possible to simulate this part, the confidence of the pilots is generally not at its maximum in this way.
Since communication with the pilots remains minimal, testing is unattractive. But it’s all the more unfortunate at the time of the race. After having established the strategy upstream (which is generally limited to a choice of tires and lap to stop in the pits), all that remains is to react according to the situation. You can tell your rider to attack (which reduces tire life), burn more fuel to go faster, or put his ERS (the energy recovery system) in an optimal mode. .
It is also possible to indicate to a driver not to hinder his teammate or to slow down the drivers behind. Finally, it is possible to ask the driver during the race to stay in the clean air and avoid the edges of the track to reduce tire and engine wear – which impacts the lap time. A handful of indications therefore which, in the long run, become a little repetitive. We would have liked to be able to give more details to the driver during the race. In short, that there are more conversations so that we feel involved.
Therefore, if the base of F1 Manager 2022 is solid and well helped by excellent graphics on the track (the different cameras allow you to embark as close as possible to the action), we feel the potential to go even further. To make us live more the atmosphere of the paddock and the perks between two Grand Prix. The intervention of other team managers could be a lead. Or just the addition of journalist solicitations – again Football Manager style. Corrections would also have to be made to maintain a certain consistency with reality. For example, it is sometimes surprising to be able to follow the best cars throughout the entire race with disconcerting ease. A difficulty to review therefore, but which does not prevent the proposal of Frontier Developments from providing real pleasure, to the point of no longer seeing the hours pass and the days pass.