F1 Manager 2022: Hiring drivers - statistics, contracts F1 Manager 2022 guide, tips

In addition to a good car, your Formula One team must also have excellent drivers. This page of the guide to F1 Manager 2022 includes tips on how to read driver stats and how and when to negotiate contracts with other drivers.

Last update: 12 September 2022

On this page of our F1 Manager 2022 guide, we will help you with selecting the drivers based on supplied statistics and team capability. Here you'll learn how to analyze drivers, when to negotiate contracts, and how to change the current team line-up.

• Rating and driver score
• Room for improvement and aggression
• Hiring and firing drivers

Rating and driver score

Each driver in F1 Manager 2022 is described by two grades:

1. First, Performance Rating, which are detailed statistics of the given driver. They are divided into 3 main categories (Pace, Consistency, Racecraft) and each parameter is determined by a number in the 0-100 category.
2. On the other hand, Driver Rating is a value from the range of 0-100 that allows quick assessment of the "quality" of the driver, and at the same time it doesn't have to be a detailed rating based on all effectiveness grades.

When analyzing a driver, one of the most important stats is performance assessment. Thanks to assessment, you'll learn the strong points of each driver and his eventual weaknesses. A lower parameter may prevent a driver from achieving good results, even if he is driving a superb car.

The parameters describing a driver are as follows:

1. Cornering - The higher the parameter, the faster the driver can pass through turns. The risk of skidding is also reduced.
2. Reactions - The higher the parameter, the better the driver will do during the start and the greater the chances are that he will hold the position or even overtake someone. This stat also governs how fast a driver leaves turns.
3. Control - The higher the parameter, the lower the risk of a crash, wheel lock on braking, falling off the track or car spin.
4. Smoothness - This is a very important parameter, because it is responsible for how well the driver deals with tire wear. A higher value will allow you to keep tires in good condition longer and lengthen your stints.
5. Overtaking - This parameter affects the success of overtaking - moreover, its high value also reduces the risk of a collision during the overtaking maneuver.
6. Defending - This is an equally important parameter as the one above because its higher value will allow your driver to more effectively defend his current place.

Room for improvement and aggression

Each driver, apart from the efficiency assesments, also has two other important parameters and each of them can have 3 values - low, medium or high.

1. Growth Potential affects how quickly a driver acquires new skills, i.e. accumulate experience . The younger the driver, the greater the XP gain will be. You have to find a compromise here between a very young driver with low skills and an older driver who has good stats but won't gain much experience anymore. Look for drivers with some F1 experience and good stats for further development , with possible growth in the seasons ahead.
2. Aggression is a parameter that determines how often a driver will try to overtake opponents . High aggression may lead to better results, but there is a risk that the overtaking maneuver will lead to a crash. A low aggression reduces the risk of a crash, but the driver may overtake less. In our opinion, the average value is optimal , although you should not forfeit a driver with good statistics that has high or low aggression.

Hiring and firing drivers

At the time of starting the career in F1 Manager 2022 , all F1 drivers have already signed contracts for the 2022 season . Best case scenario, a driver has a one-year contract for the 2022 season exclusively, but some may have long-term contracts for further years (you can check it out in the driver's description.

Don't start the new season by dismissing your drivers immediately , as this means a financial penalty. The more prestigious / longer the contract, the greater the penalty for breaking it prematurely (almost 17 million for Carlos Sainz - example in the picture above). Only consider such a decision if the penalty is really small (1-2 million).

The exception is when one of the drivers is clearly sticking out and you want to get rid of him in order to replace him with someone more talented. In such situations, don't wait until the 2023 season, but take action before entering the 2022 season.

When selecting a candidate for a driver position, you have 3 main options:

1. Extend the contract with the current driver - you can start negotiating and prepare a new contract.
2. Sign a contact with the reserve driver - this requires negotiations.
3. Bringing a completely new driver to the team - This could be a racing or reserve driver of another F1 team, or someone from the F2 / F3. Not every driver will be interested in negotiating and with some, you can't even start negotiations.

When choosing someone from outside the team, you should start scouting, i.e. get to know the statistics of the driver you consider . You can choose from short scouting which will take 10 days or long scouting which will take 30 days to get more information. The knowledge gained in this way can help you determine whether the statistics of a given driver are satisfactory.

Negotiation is about setting the terms of the contract and sending them to the driver with the hope that he will accept them. The available contract options are:

1. Driver number 1 or 2 - Not every driver will agree to be driver number 2, and he may only be interested in being the team leader.
2. Contract Length - Generally, a longer contract has a bigger chance of success.
3. Base salary - You can determine how much you will pay the driver for the entire racing season. Financial expectations are influenced by many factors, including how high is the driver's rating or whether he currently has a F1 contract. The best drivers can cost up to tens of millions of dollars, but contracting a "free" reserve driver or from lower series may be feasible for several hundred thousand dollars.
4. Joining Bonus - This is a one-time fee. This could be, for example, 1/10 to 1/15 of the contract value.
5. Bonus for the results in races - You can set the amount of the bonus and the conditions for receiving it (e.g. finishing the race on the podium). It's best to set a realistic goal, but not that you have to pay the driver every race.

After sending the contract, you will receive a response from the driver:

1. green color means that a given position is desired;
2. yellow color means that the given proposal is acceptable;
3. orange means that the driver does not agree to the offer and may refuse signing.

You can renew the negotiations, but not an infinite number of times . Each driver has a different Patience - you can read it on his card. Again lousy offers will make him refuse any further talks. You have to make sure that the conditions for the orange fields are clearly better in the new contract (for the yellow ones you can also improve them a bit).