One element of the F1 Manager 2022 game by Frontier Developments that you must oversee is driver signings. Be it finding replacements from the existing Formula 1 roster, or hunting for fresh talent in the junior ranks, making sure your driver pairing has the right balance of outright speed and development potential is essential.
So simply, here’s a quick guide on how to sign a new driver, which can be undertaken before you even start your first race.
Visit the Drivers tab
In the main hub, once you have started or loaded a season, either click or tab to the ‘Drivers’ area of the menu along the bottom menu bar.
From there, select any of your three existing drivers. You must select a driver you would like to be replaced, as accepting a new driver’s contract via this method will switch the positions upon completion.
Scout for replacement
Once an existing driver has been selected, select the ‘Scout for Replacement’ option. Don’t worry, previously scouting a driver is not essential here, but it would help with knowing a driver’s preferences beforehand.
Here you will see a big list of drivers currently on the F1 grid, acting as reserve drivers, racing in Formula 2 or in Formula 3. This is the full driver list within F1 Manager 2022.
Select a new driver
Click or select a driver from the list, and a new page loads with their profile picture and stats.
Propose Contract
Here, if you’d like to, click on the ‘Propose Contract’ to enter negotiations immediately.
From here you must try to woo the driver of choice across five criteria:
- Driver position – EIther lead driver, second driver or reserve driver
- Contract length – Number of years in your team
- Salary – Year wage
- Starting bonus – Up front bonus cost which you must pay now
By default, a rough approximation for each of these parameters is set for each driver, and you must tweak them to what you think is tempting and consider what your team can afford.
There’s also the following driver information which plays a part:
- Patience – If this is high, they are more likely to repeat offers if needed
- Negotiation attitude – If they are open, more likely to accept, if not, you better have a crazy offer
- Morale – Current feeling in their existing team
Offer contract
When you are ready with your selected options, select the ‘Offer Contract’ button. The potential new driver will then consider the offer.
If they like it, straight away you will sign them, but if not the five factors – driver position, contract length, salary and starting bonus – will be returned and colour coded with their opinion.
- Orange – below expectations
- Yellow – mediocre
- Green – perfect
Not every element must be green, a combination of green and yellow will most likely be accepted, but any orange is usually a rejected initial offer.
If rejected, then tweak the orange and yellow areas upwards and try again. Each failed attempt, however, wears down a driver’s patience rating. Too many failed attempts and you won’t be able to submit again until later in the season.
Hire
If an offer of yours is accepted, then simply select the ‘Hire’ button with the handshake icon. Remember, this will replace the initial existing driver you selected at the very start of this process. Job done.
As a last-minute option, there is a ‘cancel proposal’ option instead, just in case.
Once you select the hire option, you will next pay the associated fees – any contract break or buyout fees plus the starting bonus. Once confirmed, the driver is now yours.
Scouting drivers for the long term
If, however, you are happy with your current squad, but have an eye on the future, again visit the ‘Drivers’ tab and instead of selecting a driver, chose the ‘Scout Drivers’ option.
The same driver list will appear. Select one of interest and there are two options for scouting:
- Standard scouting
- Detailed scouting
Detailed takes longer, but provides – via email – more accurate information, leading to a higher chance of a driver accepting your offer.
Scouts will also sometimes email you about an exciting prospect that you haven’t asked for but they recommend.
Hiring new team members
It’s not just drivers you can hire in F1 Manager 2022 either, but key team personnel too.
The process is largely the same as a driver hiring. Visit the ‘Staff’ tab of the main home menu, select an existing team member, choose ‘Scout for Replacement’ and browse from a list.
Once you’ve selected a potential replacement candidate, you enter the same negotiation process as a driver, but with just three options:
- Contract length
- Salary
- Starting bonus
If all goes well, you’ll have a team member with higher stats than your existing tole-filler, and that helps with car development.
