Building the Ultimate Custom Formula 1® Team
F1® Manager 2024 introduces Create A Team mode for the first time in the series’ history, offering fans the opportunity to leave their mark on the sport in an entirely new way.
Create A Team mode allows you to shape the aesthetic of your team with detailed livery, logo and suit customisation, define the parameters of your starting conditions and lead a new force in the sport.
With so much control in your hands for the first time, this guide will give an overview of how Create A Team works, along with some tips on how to build the best team in Formula 1®.
Choose an Origin
When creating your custom team in F1® Manager 2024 you’ll first need to choose from a range of origins which define the background and starting conditions for your playthrough.
Lean more about the available origins in our Create a Team deep dive.
Your choice of origin will have a significant impact on your goals and resources for the season, shaping your priorities and the challenges you’ll face.
Whether you choose an origin as a Hungry Newcomer with significant financial backing, or an ambitious team driven by a Technical Breakthrough, it’ll be down to you to lead your team to glory in the Constructor’ Championship.
Tips & Tricks
Shape Your Starting Difficulty
The starting difficulty you’ll face in F1® Manager 2024 will be directly impacted by your choices in team origin and the initial quality and finances of your team. Opt for minimal finances and undeveloped facilities and you’ll face an upward battle right out of the gate. Max out your starting car performance and you could take pole position at Bahrain without resistance. The choice is in your hands.
Embrace the Power Fantasy
F1® Manager 2024 offers you the chance to indulge in your ultimate power fantasy and design your dream Formula 1® team. Max out your starting money, choose well-developed facilities, an impressive starting car, your ideal powertrain and the best drivers and staff available. Now is your chance to create your perfect team and truly dominate the season.
Create Custom Goals
With lots of personalisation available in your starting finances, facilities, car, drivers and more, the Your Story origin allows you to create your own custom challenges to overcome. Establish a team with a top driver, but minimal finances and a low-quality car and see how long you can keep them on contract. Take a large starting balance, but little else and see if you can tempt a giant to join your team.
Master the Presets
While the Your Story origin gives you ultimate control, the other preset origins present a variety of challenges and encourage different approaches to find success. Give them a try and show your pedigree as a Team Principal that can overcome any obstacle.
Pick Your Drivers & Staff
A Team Principal is nothing without a team to manage. With Create A Team you have full control over the people you’ll be working with. When building your team, you can choose your drivers and key staff members, including your Technical Chief, Head of Aerodynamics, Sporting Director and Race Engineers.
Perhaps even more than with your initial setup choices, your selection in Team Members will have a deep impact on your ability to find success both on and off the track.
Tips & Tricks
Beware the Risks of an All-Star Team
Creating the ultimate team and selecting the best drivers and staff might be tempting, regardless of the origin you have chosen. However, the best will, inevitably, expect the best. If you don’t have the budget, facilities or car to keep your All-Star team happy, then you might find them leaving for greener pastures sooner rather than later.
Create Formula 1® History
F1® Manager 2024 features the biggest names in F1® and F2®, along with a range of generated drivers and staff to choose from. This gives you the opportunity to create true Formula 1® history and lead the first team of championship winning female drivers into the annals of F1®.
Balance Ratings & Contract Costs
Each driver and staff member has a rating which summarises their ability, along with an annual contract cost. Typically, lower rated team members will have a lower contract cost and vice versa – although there are some exceptions to find. Carefully balance your team to select the best talent, while also avoiding any undue strain on your finances.
Lead a Team of Unknowns
With a large range of generated drivers to choose from, it’s possible to create a team entirely of unknowns. The challenge will certainly be higher, but can you lead this team to stand on the podium beside the familiar faces of the sport?
Design Your Team
After choosing your origin and selecting your team members, you then move on to designing the visual style of your team. From the logo through to the colour of your race suits, you have a high degree of control over what your team will look like.
Tips & Tricks
Add a Splash of Colour
Team colours are the key visual identifier of your team, forming a starting point for your car livery, race suits and helmets. They also appear across timing screens, your team’s HQ and even within your pit-box.
Save Your Shades
Found a colour you love? Add it to your palette by using the ‘plus’ icon located beneath the colour picker. You can then quickly add this same shade to all of your designs!
Find the Perfect Pattern or Gradient
Patterns are a quick way to visually adjust key areas of your car’s livery and team race suits, creating even more of a unique visual identity. Patterns can be applied to your car’s bodywork, wheel covers and your driver’s race suit.
Gradients can also bring further style to your designs, blending any two colours together to create a slow fade, or even a firm line. There are three types of gradient available: Vertical, Horizontal and Radial.
Jump Straight into the Action
Design presets are also available and allow you to pick from a suite of pre-created looks for your team. Use these as a base to tweak from, or simply adopt these designs as your own.
Create a Design Inspired by Giants of the Past
With a high degree of control over customisation, from colour to patterns and logos, it’s entirely possible to recreate a livery inspired by a favourite from the sport’s past. Early 2000s Ferrari red or the striking white Red Bull – you’ll have the entire history of F1® to use as your inspiration.
Lead Your Custom Team to Greatness
After creating your dream team, now comes the hard part – leading them to victory on the track.
Depending on the choices you’ve made during the creation of your team, your starting priorities will vary greatly. As with playing F1® Manager 2024 with an existing team, you’ll need to spend the first week of the season accessing your resources, identifying risks and setting a strategy into motion.
Tips & Tricks
Use Bahrain as a Litmus Test
The first race weekend of the season is always a chance for teams to set expectations for their performance across the whole season and this is no different for your custom team. The Bahrain GP will confirm if you made the right choices when creating your team, highlighting any successes and failures for the whole world to see. Heed any lessons well and prepare to shake up your approach if necessary.
Make the Right Sponsor Choices
Before heading to the first Grand Prix, you’ll be presented with the opportunity to choose sponsorship partners for the year. Your choices here can have a large impact on not only the financial rewards you’ll receive from sponsors, but also their expectations and pressure on your team.
Leading a team with limited finances, it could be tempting to take as many sponsorship deals as possible, but this risks creating unsustainable expectations and pushing your team to the limit. Choose wisely!
Beware of Poaching
Poaching is a risk for all Formula 1® teams, and with F1® Manager 2024’s new Mentality system it’s even more important to keep your drivers and staff happy. After creating your custom team and handpicking your personnel, the last thing you want is them leaving for a competitor.
Closely monitor their happiness with the Mentality Hub and be sure to invest in facilities and contracts that will keep them on team in the long run.
Play the Long Game
If you’ve committed to a rags to riches story and leading a team of unknowns, be prepared to push against adversity before you see real success. It’s difficult for new teams to break into Formula 1® and you’ll need to perform at your best if you want to survive to see future seasons.
Accept less ambitious goals from the board, invest in your facilities, develop and research car parts and prioritise your driver and staff development. It won’t be easy going, but with careful planning you can create a F1® legacy to last.
F1® Manager 2024 is Available Now!
With Create A Team, F1® Manager 2024 introduces a whole new dynamic way to experience the game. You have the power; the choices are yours to make, and the sky is the limit - can you prove your prowess and truly create the ultimate Formula 1® team?
