How ‘F1 Manager 24’ ups the realism, and hooks you in from the start

The third installment of the ‘F1 Manager’ series lets you channel your inner Toto Wolff

With Formula 1 heading into the annual summer shutdown, many single-seater racing fans wonder how they will get their F1 fix these next few weeks.

Thankfully, Frontier Developments is here to help.

The British gaming company released F1 Manager 24 last week, the third installment in the company’s F1 Manager series. This third installment includes a brand-new feature, the “Create a Team” mode, which allows users to take over an 11th team on the F1 grid and try and lead them to glory as their Team Principal.

From almost the moment I fired that up on Monday night, I was hooked.

Part of the reason? Upon starting a new career in “Create a Team” users are hit with the “Opening Titles” from the current F1 season. Any F1 fan is instantly drawn in by those.

But we were just getting started.

As you begin your journey as the 11th team on the grid you are allowed to choose from a few different “origin stories.” These are the archetypes for the team you are going to take stewardship of. Options include the “Automotive Legacy,” where you take over a team spearheaded by a luxury automotive brand, or “Phoenix Rising,” which is a team that has enjoyed success in other motorsport championships and is seeking to carve out a name for themselves in F1.

Instead, I went with the “Your Story” option, which according to the game allows you to “[l]ive the definitive Formula 1 fantasy and create your own team, then lead them to victory as their Team Principal. This custom team origin allows you to delve into the details of your background, choosing a starting budget, the strength of your car and the levels of individual facilities.”

Sounds good to me. Travilah Racing, welcome to the 2024 Formula 1 grid.

Next up? Picking my driver duo for the 2024 season.

Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda? Come on down!

Following picking my drivers and critical team members, it was time to design a custom livery for what I’ll be calling the TR01. Now, graphic design is not exactly my passion, and thankfully F1 Manager 24 has a lot of premade options for users to choose from. However, I did have a color scheme in mind:

Pink? Yes, pink.

Yeah, that is the good stuff right there.

Up next was “sponsor negotiation,” where the newly minted Team Principal of Travilah Racing had to meet with various companies and choose a main sponsor for the team. You can choose to be aggressive or conservative here and roll the dice on hitting performance targets for more money down the road.

I went with the more conservative approach — which will become a theme here over the next few paragraphs — and picked a technology company that was not so reliant on our on-track performance. We’ll see in the coming months if that comes back to haunt me.

Before the season began it was also time to predict race targets for both Piastri and Tsunoda. Again, I went conservative here, hoping both drivers hit P14 or better in the Drivers’ Championship.

Having set the team up, it was time for the first race of the campaign, the Bahrain Grand Prix. But before diving into a race weekend I took a moment to look at all the development options available and was almost overwhelmed.

This will become another theme of this piece, the absolute wealth of information at your fingertips whether during a race or even during the week when you are back at the factory. From research and development to driver development and scouting to handling the morale of various team members, every aspect of the operation is in your control.

So I figured I would throw some R&D at a new rear wing and a new floor for the TR01. Can never rest when it comes to in-season development.

Now it was time to head to the track. Following the in-game prompts I simulated the three practice sessions, but when it came time for qualifying, I was hands-on. Q1 got underway, there was a green light at the end of pit land, and it was time to send Piastri and Tsunoda out to the track.

And immediately, Piastri completed his radio check on his outlap and I could not help but scream at the sound of his voice. That certainly kicked the realism up a notch.

Midway through Q1 we were feeling pretty good over at Travilah Racing. Tsunoda was up in P7, and Piastri’s time was good enough for P11. But we were not going to rest, and I tried to time up one last push lap for both drivers on a fresh set of softs right at the end of Q1 when the circuit had as much rubber on it as possible.

That made for some nervy times over on Piastri’s side of the garage:

Some nervy moments on the Travilah Racing pit wall

While we managed to get Tsunoda out of the garage well ahead of Q1 coming to a close, we cut it really close with Piastri. As you can see above the Australian driver was on his out lap and it was a legitimate question whether he would get back to the start/finish line before Q1 came to a close.

This is where F1 Manager 24 passed, for the first time of many on Monday night, what some call the “lean test.”

It is a popular meme you may have seen floating around social media at one time or another, where someone playing a video game just leans forward as things get serious. Watching Piastri fly around Bahrain International Circuit on that above angle — one of countless available to you for each car during a race session — I found myself leaning forward and maybe even forgetting to breathe. Was I going to miss the window with Piastri and get off to an embarrassing start as Team Principal?

He hit the start/finish line with only seconds to spare.

It was worth it, however, as both Tsunoda (P8) and Piastri (P9) advanced to Q2. Having done the bare minimum, it was time for Q2, and hopefully a shot at the top ten during Q3.

I started both Piastri and Tsunoda out on a used set of softs, to try and get in a banker lap early in Q2. Unfortunately, other teams had similar ideas, and traffic early in the session was heavy.

Leading to the next incredible moment of realism, as Tsunoda let me hear it over the radio:

Angry Yuki

Again, his voice comes over so those of you reading that who read it in his voice, you get to hear it in the game. Incredible.

Midway through Q2 both Piastri and Tsunoda were in the drop zone, and both were sent back out with a few minutes to spare in the session to try and find the time they needed. There was not much traffic on the track at that time — I did not want Tsunoda yelling at me again — and they both had clear air to work with.

While I legitimately paced in my living room, feeling rather helpless and with nothing to do but watch, both drivers pushed their TR01s around the track.

And fell short of Q3.

Well, it was time to dust ourselves off at Travilah Racing and get ready for the main event. As you might imagine there are all sorts of strategy options at your disposal in the pre-race portion of each weekend, and with both drivers starting outside the points I thought it made sense to split strategies a bit. Anticipating a two-stop race we started Piastri on the softs and Tsunoda on the mediums, hoping to keep our options open.

Tsunoda spun on Lap 2, sliding back to P20 after starting in P15:

An early spin from Tsunoda

Still, this was not a time to give up. Tsunoda pushed on, and so did we on the track, pouring through every bit of data — again, an overwhelming amount — to try and find optimal strategies going forward. As both drivers neared their pit window, I instructed both to push on their final laps on their starting tires, to extract every bit of rubber, and time, out of them. Both managed to pick up some spots on the track before coming into the pits for fresh tires, and after we cycled through the first of the two expected stops, Piastri was up in P12, and Tsunoda had fought back to P14.

Then, a few breaks came our way. Valtteri Bottas had a mechanical failure. Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz Jr. each had one-car accidents. Before I knew it, Piastri was up in P9 and Tsunoda in P11. Could Travilah Racing pull off a double-points result in their debut? I was pacing and scanning through all the various data available to users during the race — which again, is a ton — and trying to figure out how to best handle the final pit stop for both drivers. The plan was for both to finish on the softs, and I needed them to extend their second stints as long as possible so their final set of softs could be ready for a fight to the flag.

Piastri came in first on Lap 42, followed by Tsunoda on Lap 43. By the time all the pit stops had cycled through, Piastri was in P11 chasing Daniel Ricciardo, while Tsunoda was in P12.

I had perhaps waited a bit too long here, so the pacing began anew.

With ten laps to go Piastri was around eight seconds behind Ricciardo in P10, the final points position. I gave Piastri the order to go on the attack, and that margin ticked down lap-by-lap. By Lap 51 the gap was just four seconds, and by Lap 53 the gap was under three seconds.

The following lap, Piastri was on the cusp of DRS range. I was losing my mind, he was going to pull this off. We were going to pull this off.

On Lap 55, Piastri got alongside Ricciardo, and managed to stick the overtake:

Piastri v. Ricciardo

Two laps to go. Piastri, somehow managing a set of softs he had pushed to the absolute limit, was going to pull this off. We gave him the instruction to use every bit of energy stored in his battery he could to fend off Ricciardo, who was filling his rear-view mirrors:

Here comes the Honey Badger

One lap to go.

Suddenly, Piastri began to fade. Ricciardo blew by him. Then I saw the reason why.

A puncture. We, I, had pushed those tires too hard, too long. They failed. He coasted to the end in P11, just outside the points. Tsunoda was in P12.

And of course, Max Verstappen was atop the podium:

I sat back down on the couch, feeling rather dejected.

It was time to go back to the factory to lick my wounds, and I started poking around the morale levels of different team members. To a person, everyone is upset with me.

I leaned forward on the couch, as I poked around to see what I could do to improve things again. We’ve got just a few days before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and I need to find some answers.

Because I am hooked.