F1 25 setup guide

For those taking their first steps into EA and Codemasters’ F1 25, the game’s car set-up options can look quite ominous at first glance.

From differential settings to suspension geometry, determining what to change to improve your car’s performance or handling can be quite intimidating, especially for beginners.

However, below we’ll break down what each of F1 25’s set-up options mean and how they will affect the handling of your car, helping you make informed decisions about car set-up. 

At the very bottom of this article, we’ll also provide a couple of world record set-ups you can use as a baseline.

Fuel Load

This is an obvious one, but higher fuel loads should only be used for races. More fuel equals more mass, and carrying more mass around a track will slow your car down at every point, especially under acceleration and braking.

A heavier car will also wear its tyres out faster, generate more brake and tyre heat and feel more sluggish to control. So, for qualifying and time trials, keep your fuel loads low.

Aerodynamics

Front and rear wing aero

Front and rear wing aero refers to the amount of angle on the front and rear wings. Higher values equal more downforce, affecting the balance of your car at high speeds.

A proportionally higher front wing angle will induce oversteer, likewise with a lower rear wing angle. The key is to find the optimal balance between the two that also suits a particular track. 

High aero settings will create more aerodynamic drag, which reduces top speed and acceleration, but will also improve cornering grip.

Low aero settings will create less aerodynamic drag, increasing top speed and acceleration, but reducing cornering performance. More drag is less fuel efficient, too.

A track like Monaco requires high overall aero settings because of its tight confines, while Monza needs low aero settings owing to its long straights.

In F1 25, most tracks suit low aero settings, and it’s best to have higher numbers on the front wing. If you tend to spin out using this method then set the rear wing number higher than the front.

Transmission

Differential Adjustment On Throttle

Differential settings affect the relative speed of the rear wheels on a Formula 1 car. Higher on-throttle figures effectively lock the differential at a quicker rate under acceleration, which can make the car difficult to turn and accelerate at the same time. 

Lower figures lock the differential at a slower rate, making your car less likely to spin out under acceleration. In theory, higher settings will produce the quickest lap times, but at the expense of snappier handling.

If you’re looking for ultimate lap time, set this at 100%. If you struggle to control the car, then knock this down by 10% or 20%.

Differential Adjustment Off Throttle

Off-throttle diff adjustments apply when the car is coasting or braking into a corner, and have a big effect on car behaviour. 

Lower numbers encourage the rear wheels to spin at different rates, making the car more likely to oversteer on corner entry, while higher numbers will cause the wheels to spin at similar rates, providing more stability.

For outright pace, lower numbers will produce a livelier car, but it will be more difficult to control while off-throttle.

Tuning the differential (this setting can be changed while driving) can help improve your car’s handling during a race. For example, as your fuel load decreases, the car may become more oversteery, so a higher off-throttle setting will help calm its handling down. The same applies to tyre wear, as your car will begin to lose grip during a race, so its balance will naturally change

A favourable off-throttle diff setting for ultimate laptime is around 50%-60%. If this is too lairy, increase it by another 10-20%.

Suspension geometry

Camber

Adding more negative camber to your car can help the tyres produce more grip, as under heavy loads the tyre will naturally tilt toward positive camber. Adding negative camber counteracts this, ensuring more of the tyre surface maintains contact with the track more of the time, enhancing grip.

Generally, the rear tyres will have less negative camber than the fronts to improve traction at low speeds.

Rather unrealistically, in F1 25, maxed-out camber settings (more negative) generate tons of grip without the drawbacks.

Toe in/toe out

Most racecars will have toe-out on the front wheels and toe-in on the rears. Toe-in is when the wheels are set to tilt towards the centre line of the car as viewed from above, while toe-out is the opposite.

This sharpens your car’s initial turn reaction into corners at the expense of straight-line drag and top speed. It can also affect braking potential on more extreme settings.

Extreme toe settings can also generate more tyre heat and wear, and a more conservative approach is recommended in F1 25, with the best settings thought to be very close to zero.

Suspension

Front and rear suspension

This setting refers to the stiffness of your car’s suspension, incorporating both springs and dampers, which do not have separate values in F1 25. 

Springs help control a car’s ride height and body roll, crucial in an F1 car with powerful aerodynamics, while dampers are focused towards absorbing bumps and controlling weight transfer.

Balancing front and rear suspension settings is important to how the car feels in low and high-speed corners, as well as while accelerating and braking. 

Soft suspension settings (lower numbers) could lead to your car bottoming out, while stiff settings (higher numbers) could allow the car to bounce and become unstable. 

As ever, different tracks require different approaches, with smooth, high-speed circuits like Qatar demanding stiff suspension, while slow and bumpy tracks like Monaco demand softer settings.

Soft rear suspension will allow you to put the power down better at the expense of manoeuvrability, while soft front suspension will be more forgiving but cause understeer.

F1 25’s handling model seems to favour extremely stiff front suspension settings combined with extremely soft rear settings. 

Anti-roll bars

Anti-roll bars connect opposing wheels together to prevent excessive loads on one side, preventing body roll (naturally!) while increasing stability. Stiffer settings (higher numbers) will prevent body roll the most, and are better for high-speed direction changes. 

However, stiffer front settings are less advantageous in slow corners as the car can run out of lateral grip and understeer. 

For the rear, lower settings allow the car to roll more, which is good for traction, while higher settings can lead to oversteer.

Much like suspension settings, F1 25 rewards soft anti-roll bar settings on the front and stiff settings at the rear. We recommend fully stiff rear settings and medium settings for the front.

Ride height

Lowering your car’s ride height is a quick and easy way to improve its overall performance. Low ride heights lower your car’s centre of gravity and make it easier to change direction and provide a huge aerodynamic benefit, lowering drag and increasing top speed and acceleration.

However, if you run your car too low, it will bottom out over bumps, potentially causing spins or, at the very least, reducing speeds due to the grinding effect between the asphalt and the bottom of your car.

The key is to run as low as possible without this happening. Stiffer suspension settings will help prevent bottoming out, so a balance is required for optimal performance.

You can also elect to run your car with a high rake. This is where the rear ride height is proportionally much higher than the front, moving the centre of aerodynamic pressure forward as the front wing physically moves closer to the ground. This can help increase overall downforce and therefore grip.

However, doing this will also increase drag and decrease top speeds. Preventing high-speed understeer can be done by increasing its rear ride height.

In F1 25, a front ride height of 20 works well with a rear ride height of 45, so we recommend this as a baseline to work from.

Brakes

Front brake bias

Front brake bias relates to the split in brake pressure between the front and rear wheels. For most cars, the brake bias will be weighted towards the front: too much and your car will lock up more; too little, and your overall braking performance will be reduced.

Tyre wear and fuel load will also have a bearing on brake bias, as worn front tyres will have a greater tendency to lock up, requiring a more rearward brake bias. The same applies to heavy fuel loads, as a heavier car puts more stress on the brakes and can cause lock-ups.

Rearward brake bias can provide more car rotation, but at the expense of less stability. However, since brake bias can be changed on the fly, you can adjust it on a corner-by-corner basis based on your requirements. The current thinking is that a bias of 53% is a solid compromise between stability and performance.

Brake pressure

100% brake pressure will give you the best potential braking performance from your car. However, if you consistently lock up while braking, you can reduce the brake pressure setting to help.

This will reduce the power of the brakes overall and increase your car’s stopping distance, but the benefits in terms of tyre wear and preventing loss of control may make it worthwhile.

Tyres

Tyre pressure

Real-world F1 teams try to run their tyre pressures as low as legally possible. A softer tyre allows more of the rubber to be in contact with the track surface more of the time, increasing grip. However, low tyre pressures can also cause overheating and increased tyre wear.

Higher tyre pressures reduce the tyre’s contact patch and marginally help top speed, but can prevent the rubber from achieving optimal temperatures.

In F1 25, however, running with high tyre pressures, even maximum values, provides the most performance benefits. It isn’t realistic, but it’s the best approach for now.

F1 25 set-up downloads

The F1 series of games has traditionally allowed you to download other players’ set-ups. By taking part in a Time-trial (via the F1 World menu), you’ll be able to look through the leaderboards for each of the game’s tracks.

Click on the name of any player on the list, and you will see an option to download their set-up, which can then be applied directly to your car. Make sure you manually save this set-up before exiting if you want to keep it.

See below for two examples of world record set-ups for F1 25.

F1 25 best Spa-Francorchamps set-up*

We’ve collated Otis Lawrence’s current world record (1:41.306) F1 25 set-up at Spa-Francorchamps:

Aerodynamics

• Front Wing Aero: 3
• Rear Wing Aero: 0 

Transmission 

• Differential Adjustment On Throttle: 100% 
• Differential Adjustment Off Throttle: 20%

Suspension Geometry

• Front Camber: -3.50° 
• Rear Camber: -2.00° 
• Front Toe-Out: 0.00° 
• Rear Toe-In: 0.10°

Suspension 

• Front Suspension: 41 
• Rear Suspension: 1 
• Front Anti-Roll Bar: 8
• Rear Anti-Roll Bar: 21
• Front Ride Height: 20
• Rear Ride Height: 48

Brakes

• Front Brake Bias: 53% 
• Brake Pressure: 100% 

Tyres

• Front Right Tyre Pressure: 29.5 psi 
• Front Left Tyre Pressure: 29.5 psi 
• Rear Right Tyre Pressure: 26.5 psi 
• Rear Left Tyre Pressure: 26.5 psi 

F1 25 best Monza set-up*

We’ve collated Barbence1’s fastest lap set-up from Monza, resulting in a 1:17.922. 

Aerodynamics

• Front Wing Aero: 2
• Rear Wing Aero: 0 

Transmission 

• Differential Adjustment On Throttle: 100% 
• Differential Adjustment Off Throttle: 60%

Suspension Geometry

• Front Camber: -3.50° 
• Rear Camber: -2.00° 
• Front Toe-Out: 0.00° 
• Rear Toe-In: 0.10°

Suspension 

• Front Suspension: 40 
• Rear Suspension: 1 
• Front Anti-Roll Bar: 18
• Rear Anti-Roll Bar: 16
• Front Ride Height: 20
• Rear Ride Height: 45

Brakes

• Front Brake Bias: 53% 
• Brake Pressure: 100% 

Tyres

• Front Right Tyre Pressure: 29.5 psi 
• Front Left Tyre Pressure: 29.5 psi 
• Rear Right Tyre Pressure: 26.5 psi 
• Rear Left Tyre Pressure: 26.5 psi 

*Correct as of 5th June 2025