F1 Manager 2022 lets you shape F1 rules and regulations

Frontier Developments has today (23rd June 2022) unveiled an exciting new game mechanic coming to its F1 Manager 2022 sim later this year.

F1 Manager 2022 is set to be the first officially licensed Formula 1 management game in over two decades, since the release of EA’s F1 Manager in 2000. Your role is Team Principal of an F1 team, and your job is to oversee everything to do with running an F1 team.

So that means budgets, car upgrades, recruitment, facility maintenance as well as scouting the F2 and F3 feeder series for new drivers. We’ve also now learned that F1 Manager 2022 will see players getting involved in the murkier side of F1 – the politics.

Frontier has revealed that just like in real-world F1, you will get to vote on rules and regulation changes regarding cost caps, car design and prize money distributions. Say, for example, your team’s car suffers from porpoising, you would vote to change car design rules to mitigate the problem.

But if your car wasn’t porpoising, you’d vote against the proposed new rules to maintain your performance advantage. In such a completely hypothetical situation (ahem), it’s intriguing to speculate on how this game mechanic will play out.

For example, in real-world F1, Mercedes-engined teams tend to vote the same way as the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team on many issues. Likewise, Ferrari-engined teams generally throw their weight behind Scuderia Ferrari. It will be interesting to see if this is similarly simulated in-game.

The FIA is the final arbiter of F1 technical and sporting rules and regulations, while F1 – run by Liberty Media – can advise on changes. These have been spearheaded by experienced F1 technical minds such as Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds, who have focused recently on enhancing the raceability of the cars, while also improving safety and reducing budgets via a cost-cap.

Controversially, the Concorde Agreement – the contract that binds F1 teams, F1 and the FIA in determining the distribution of prize money, TV rights and other financial and media opportunities – allows Ferrari a power of veto over any prospective F1 rule changes. Will F1 Manager 2022 include this we wonder?

F1 teams can vote on technical changes – a majority vote is often enough to push through future directives – but last-minute amendments, or changes to the following season’s rules, require at least eight of the ten teams to agree, safety concerns excepted. In the event of this, the FIA can, in theory, change rules instantly and without notice.

F1 rules and regulations can be a tangled web of bureaucracy, so in some ways, we hope F1 Manager 2022 captures the essence of F1 politics without too much of the politicking.

F1 Manager 2022 is set to release on 25th August for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Are you looking forward to unleashing your inner Toto Wolff on the virtual F1 world? Let us know in the comments below.