F1 Manager adds customised grids, calendar and team-members

Liam Lawson to Red Bull Racing, Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari, Carlos Sainz to Williams – the real-world Formula 1 grid has a spate of driver changes, plus two new-to-F1 faces.

Traditionally, if you would like your in-game season line-up to match the latest season, you would have to buy an all-new F1 Manager game. But not this time, as F1 Manager 2024 has received the ability to create a custom season.

That means, in the Create A Team mode only, you can alter the lineups of rival teams to your heart’s content with the strong existing driver roster – which includes 2024 Formula 2, Formula 3, reserver drivers and affiliated drivers. Or in other words, every driver on the actual 2025 grid.

The changes also allow for the creation of completely fictional drivers and team members for your fictional squad – selecting likenesses from a roster of available looks, plus setting their attribute levels across 11 performance-affecting attributes. These can be added to any team on the grid, too.

Curiously certain rules, such as points allocated, aerodynamic testing and powertrain limits, prize money and cost cap can also be tweaked. Teams’ starting balance, car performance and facility levels are also on the ‘can-now-change’ list.

Of note, these options now allow players to compete as a real-world team within the Create A Team mode – something not previously possible. Although, you must still create a fictional team, and they will still be on the grid, even if, say, you select McLaren.

Shorter seasons

Alongside the team and driver settings, for the first time, the calendar can be adjusted in an F1 Manager title – sounding analogous to the F1 driving games by Electronic Arts and Codemasters.

Now, provided you have at least eight venues, you can create a customised calendar, change the order and omitting your least-favourite venues. Crucially, it means completing more seasons within a game save can be completed in a much shorter time, should you choose.

There’s also an auto-populated shuffle that rearranges around 30 per cent of the calendar. Selecting which races feature a sprint is also possible.

This wide-reaching Update 1.11 is released 25th February 2025 across all PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms. We’ll update this article with the full patch notes, then. Nintendo Switch will follow later.

These changes follow the addition of pitlante starts.

F1 Manager 2024 Update 1.11 at a glance – Main Create A Team mode changes

• Change the driver line-up pre-season
• Alter rules, payouts and the grid’s relative competitiveness
• Create fictional drivers and team-members
• Customise calendar length (eight race minimum) and order
• Race as any team on the grid

F1 Manager 2024 Update 1.11 patch notes

NEW – Customise A Season

• Expanded customisation and season setup options, including:
  • Edit all 10 teams’ driver and staff lineups
  • Set all 10 teams’ starting balance
  • Set all 10 teams’ facilities and car performance starting levels
• Take control of any team in Create-A-Team mode

NEW – Create A Driver

• Create your own drivers and staff
• Set their biographical info and staff attributes

NEW – Race Calendar Customisation

• Adjust the race calendar at the start of a new save
  • Move or remove (to a minimum of 8) races in the schedule
• Choose which races have a sprint weekend

NEW – Rules & Regulations Customisation

• Adjust the rules and regulations, including points allocations schemes

NEW – Calendar Randomisation

• Optionally randomise the race calendar between seasons for a renewed challenge

NEW – Track Evolution

• Enhanced the simulation of rubber on track and grip levels – and the impact on lap times – during and across qualifying sessions

NEW –  Driver Rating Updates

• OVR rating adjustments made to some young drivers (new saves only)

NEW –  Nationalities

• Generated and created drivers and staff now represented with a nationality
• Custom teams can now be given a nationality

Stability & Performance

• Various stability & performance improvements
• Resolved virtual keyboard stopping appearing after quickly entering and exiting a text box (Switch only)

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Bug Fixes

Create A Team

• Leclerc and Sainz will no longer be shown on Team Branding screen when default drivers are left unchanged in Create A Team
• Resolved inability to see which are active sponsors in decal editor
• Welcome Email will no longer display incorrect contract data having started Create A Team game with vacant seats

Contracts & Hiring

• Breakout multiplier lower limit set to x0.5
• When terminating a driver or staff member’s contract, the ‘Cost to Terminate Contract’ will no longer display an incorrect value
• Addressed blank response when offering a contract with an immediate deadline on first day of race weekend
• Revised UI in contract negotiation screen

Finance & Sponsorship

• Resolved starting balance not updating when changing engine manufacturer during End of Season flow
• Addressed some Engagement Activities not contributing to the Engagement Target after the first season
• Engagement Activities will no longer be available for facilities the user does not have
• Resolved Spending Breakdown screen not displaying any Incoming or Outgoing data for Sponsors

Team Management

• Resolved Mentality level being displayed inconsistently between some screens
•  “Biggest Issue” feedback will no longer show an incorrect number of staff with same opinion
• Driver Development emails will no longer show a blank sender 

Race Weekend

• Addressed AI reluctance to send cars out in qualifying when track changes from wet to dry
• Resolved incorrect finish position displayed on post-race Driver Performance screen 
• Track Rubber will no longer drop significantly after a red flag
• Bahrain race weekend dates have been updated
• Cars will no longer go through the barrier after collision on Baku’s main straight
• Resolved driver panel not highlighting when focused for an affiliate being used in FP1
• ‘Very Low’ Track Rubber status will no longer show in green

Race Replay

• Re-applied missing audio in Brazil Race Moment (PS4 only)
• Added missing Race Moment descriptions
• Resolved discrepancies in Las Vegas Starting Grid
  • Stroll & Bottas grid positions
  • Tyre allocations
  • Season performance data 

Presentation & Navigation

• Resolved ‘Time’ column displaying incorrectly when using stepper to view results for each F2/F3 session
• Various localisation improvements
• Adjusted driver numbers for rookie drivers
• Resolved WDC not reverting to previous race number when no longer reigning champion
• Added a donut chart to the marketability tooltip
• Updated dialogue text for Theo Pourchaire to remove a grammar mistake
• Reduced the clipping seen on Mercedes drivers hands when using T-cam
• Double-digit driver numbers will no longer be cut off when present on a McLaren
• Resolved incorrect results being displayed in Grand Prix section of F2/F3 standings
• Resolved ‘Scout for Replacement’ button in expiring Sporting Director contract email incorrectly linking to Head of Aero staff
• Reworked the game navigation to return the player to Staff rather than the Driver menu after signing a Race Engineer via the latter
• Addressed code showing in text on ‘Staff Survey’ email when language set to Italian.
• Added ‘Development Focus’ to the details tab on top level Driver screen
• Moved descriptive text on the top level Driver screen into a secondary tooltip