F1 22: Career - tips and team management F1 22 guide, tips

The career modes of the F1 22 game are very extensive. Our guide describes how to start a career, how to manage a team, how to do research and how to take care of good team finances, among other things.

Last update: 07 July 2022

The course of the career mode in F1 22 can be quite complex and force you to make difficult decisions. From our guide you will learn, among others, what should be your first career choices, how to properly develop the team and drivers, how to play the next racing weekends and how to research new parts.

• Initial settings
• Calendar
• Training programs and race weekend structure
• Research and development - R&D
• Facilities
• Earning and spending money in My Team mode
• Parts wear and replacement
• Gaining XP and developing driver skills
• Renewing and signing new contracts with drivers
• Pirelli events and challenges

Initial settings

Depending on the career type you choose, you may have different initial choices. In the classic career, you can start in the lower F2 series first or advance to the F1 right away.

In My Team mode, you can choose your starting point, i.e. the difficulty level. If you do not want to make the races easier, then you can deliberately choose a beginner team with little chance of good results. You can also set up a team that will be able to compete with the leaders almost immediately.

Regardless of the career type you choose, you can set a season calendar. We recommend running the full 2022 season (and subsequent ones) which consists of 22 races. If you don't like a GP or you want to shorten the time you spend on the career, you can also choose your own season and adjust its races list.

Other common settings include:

1. Assist, AI skill level and simulation options - This is not a final choice, as it is possible to make changes between individual sessions or races (or, in some cases, even during the race).
2. Race weekend session lengths - You can, for example, run full or shorter practice sessions and qualifying sessions, and set the percentage of race distance. Again, the changes are not made permanent.
3. Rules - For example, the level of realism when displaying flags, going to pitstops or having a safety car on the track. You can change the settings later.
4. Additional career options - You can, for example, allow or prohibit the transfers of drivers between teams, as well as allow research and development of facilities in the My Team mode (these options are enabled by default).

In a standard career, you have to create your own character, choose an existing team to join, and who you want to be your teammate. This means that the second driver will be out - you will be replacing him (at least until the end of the first contract).

In My Team, apart from creating a driver, you will have to make more complex choices like creating a completely new F1 team, which will join the competition as the eleventh team. The most important choices are:

1. Main sponsor - You must pay attention to their expectations, because in addition to the "starting" cash, you can also receive up to several million dollars for meeting the sponsor's demands over the course of the season (e.g. ranking in the top3 in the constructors' classification). Choose a sponsor with expectations that you can meet. A weak team will not be able to fight for good results right away.
2. Choosing an engine supplier - You have 4 engine manufacturers to choose from. Their engines differ in performance, durability and price. We recommend one of the middle suppliers, that is Red Bull or Mercedes. The Renault engine is weaker, while the Ferrari engine is the most expensive. In the career mode, the engines can be developed, so you don't have to worry about lower performance for the duration of the contract.
3. Team partner selection - You don't choose an F1 driver, but someone from F2. Available drivers have similar stats, so this choice is not crucial. You will also be able to change driver number 2 if necessary before the end of the first F1 season.
4. Dress code, team colors and team logos - they are not permanent and can be changed later.

In the case of the My Team mode, at the end, you also have an interview with Will Buxton with various answers to choose from. These are not decisions of great importance, but specific answers can improve your relationship with selected team departments. This mechanic is very similar to the interviews with press representatives from previous parts of the series.

Calendar

The calendar with upcoming events can be found on the main screen of the career mode. In the case of regular career, it does not play a significant role. However, it is more important in the My Team mode, because you can manage your time waiting for the next Grand Prix. There are different types of activities available, each taking from 1 to several days on your calendar. We recommend choosing various activities to gain as much profits as possible. In particular, it is worth choosing those that:

1. Will improve poor department morale - React when morale is low.
2. They will develop the statistics of the co-driver - This will allow him to drive better and have good, stable results.
3. They will provide XP - This can be a driver or team experience.
4. They will provide research points - With them, you can start working on new technologies faster.

Training programs and race weekend structure

An important information is that in a career, training is used not only to get to know the track and test the car, but also to implement training programs. You should always choose them and try to complete as much as possible.

The game always draws 3 variants of practice programs. They can, for example, concern getting to know the track (driving through the control gates), saving fuel (you have to let go of the throttle before taking a corner) or simulating a classification lap (quick circle on a soft mix). Each program has 2 main goals (easier and more difficult) and 3 side goals (e.g. driving a clean lap). Focus on the main ones first, because they will give you Resource Points.

The trainings can be played by artificial intelligence for you - you can do it by choosing Quick Practice instead of moving to the track personally. This is a good way to get hold of those practices that you have trouble with or just don't like.

In quick practice, each attempt has a percentage chance of success. We suggest that you always choose the programs with the best chances (70 percent or more), even if they are the longest. You should pass most of them on your first try. Try to use the duration of a given training to the maximum and give up only when you run out of it for any further training.

The default F1 race weekend structure is:

1. 3 practice sessions.
2. Qualifications divided into 3 parts (Q1, Q2, Q3) - in the first 2, the slowest cars are eliminated. Alternatively, you can choose a simplified qualification where each driver only has 1 lap.
3. The main race.

In a few GPs with sprint races the session changes:

1. First training session.
2. Qualifications for the Sprint race.
3. Second training session.
4. Sprint race - This is a shorter race where you score fewer points. Your results affect the starting positions in the main race.
5. The main race.

You are free to shorten or skip individual sessions. In the case of qualifications and races, their length must be set at the beginning of the given race weekend - it cannot be changed until the next race.

Research and development - R&D

You can research new parts for the car in all career modes. You should never skip this step as your team may start to lose with competitors and be slower in racing as a result. In the main R&D window, the game displays bars with the current performance of each team's cars.

Research Points can be obtained mainly by completing practice levels. If you have done well with the programs of a given GP, you should accumulate at least 1,000 points at a time. You can also unlock discounts to start research.

Research is conducted in 4 areas - Aerodynamics, Chassis, Powetrain and Durability. The first 3 categories are used to improve racing performance and pace, and by researching the Durability department, you can slow down the wear of parts on the car.

We advise you to develop all 4 categories evenly so that your team does not stand out clearly in any of them. Make exceptions if you notice a large deficit, e.g. in the drive system's efficiency. You can choose the research you want to start or decide on the recommended improvements.

Each test lasts from a few to several days - you have to wait for the result. They can be successful or a failure. You can avoid frequent failures by taking care of the high morale of a given department. It's best to repeat a failed project right away - you have to spend Research Points again, but you should have a 100% chance of success.

Facilities

Each team has several facilities related to its management, with their role varying depending on the type of career chosen. In the standard career, the expansion of facilities takes place without your involvment, at specific moments of the season.

In My Team mode, you can spend money on building facilities. These are largely expensive upgrades, but they can make a difference:

1. In the Aerodynamics, Chassis, Powetrain and Durability categories, we recommend choosing upgrades that allow you to gain more research points and shorten the research time first.
2. In the Personnel category, try to unlock at least 1 upgrade to increase the statistics of the second driver, thanks to which he will start to do better in races.
3. There are 2 very expensive improvements in the Marketing category. One of them allows you to get XP faster - you should gradually accumulate funds for purchasing it ($25 million by default).

Each object generates costs in the My Team mode. They are not very high assuming you earn good money in racing. In a crisis situation, you can temporarily close the facility, but then it may, for example, stop working on important research.

Earning and spending money in My Team mode

You need to worry about managing your cash only in My Team. The most important source of income are sponsors - you can sign a contract with 1 main sponsor and up to 4 smaller ones (initially only 3 slots for small sponsors are available).

When selecting sponsors, pay attention to their requirements, because some of them may be difficult to meet (e.g. finishing each race on the podium or by scoring a minimum of 20 points in total). Choose offers that have a good chance of success and guarantee good profits.

In the case of the main sponsor, you can count on getting a bonus at the end of the season. As for the smaller sponsors, they are shown on the race summary screen. You will learn about completing (or not) their challenges and getting extra cash. You can have less profit if the car or cars are damaged.

Parts wear and replacement

In all career modes, you must take into account that car parts will wear out gradually - including engine, turbocharger or gearbox. You can monitor their condition on an ongoing basis - the game shows the percentage of durability and the approximate number of laps to the total wear out. Do not wait with replacement until the end, because heavily worn parts are less effective - for example, the engine may provide worse performance, and the gearbox may jam at random.

Teams have a limited number of parts for each season. It is very likely that you will exceed it - the penalty is to get moved to a lower position on the starting grid. Try to approach it tactically - replace parts in those GPs where it will be easier for you to regain positions or which, for example, you have written off after poor qualifications.

Research from the Durability section slow down parts wear. You can also buy upgrades in the objects menu that have a similar effect.

Gaining XP and developing driver skills

In F1 22, you can accumulate XP - Acclaim. In normal career, it only applies to drivers, but in My Team, it also applies to your team. XP is obtained primarily from good results in races, but you can also earn them by, for example, participating in supercar challenges in your career or by defeating rivals. Higher levels raise the status of your driver and/or team. A better driver can get better job offers and a better team can get more money from sponsors.

Each driver is also described with a number of other statistics. This is the overall Rating in the range of 0-100, as well as statistics such as racing pace, focus or caution on the track.

Statistics can be developed both naturally and thanks to your actions. You can, among others, unlock driver's perks (more XP and research points, reduced engine wear) and spend calendar days on developing selected parameters of your partner.

Renewing and signing new contracts with drivers

In a traditional career, your job is to sign contracts with real teams. You will join the first team at the beginning of your career, and you will be able to choose the next team while playing it. Getting good results and accumulating XP/Acclaim will allow you to pick from better offers.

The driver market is available in the My Team career. You can find out about their market value and statistics, as well as keep track of your favorites.

After your co-driver's contract expires, you have to decide:

1. You can start negotiations to keep the current driver so that he remains your team partner.
2. You can try to hire a new driver to replace the current one. The new candidate may set the conditions for agreeing to the offer (e.g. sufficient development of facilites in the team). Advanced negotiations may also be necessary to buy a driver from a competing team (as an auction). We recommend having a strong partner, as this will allow you to regularly obtain good points in races. A weak driver may not use the potential of the car and you may "lose" good results and points in the championship.

Pirelli events and challenges

During the career, various department events can occur randomly and each of them requires some decision, such as choosing the type of event in the marketing department, agreeing to purchase upgrades, or setting the statistics of the other driver to develop. They are not extremely important, but you can gain something from them so it is worth rethinking each decision.

Very often, before the start of a given race weekend, you can play one of the proposed Pirelli challenges. These are the so-called Pirelli Hot Laps, which we have covered on the Supercars and challenges page. You should always join them - by earning medals you can get XP/Acclaim and cash (up to $100,000 for each event).