Form and strategy guide 2012
Picking the drivers and teams who are going to have a great season is very tricky. Pre-season testing is not a reliable indicator as teams run differing programmes of tests and so direct comparisons are rarely possible. A further consideration is the amount of development that takes place over the course of the season. Teams that start the season poorly can often finish strongly and, whilst they may not develop quickly enough to remain in contention for the real F1 crown, changing fortunes can have a big impact on Reality F1 teams.
That said, it's likely that Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari will all be fighting for wins with Mercedes and Lotus (previously Renault) close behind. In the mid-field it looks like it could be a tight battle between Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber. Caterham will benefit from the Renault engine and Red Bull gearbox but will a late driver change disrupt the team's preparation? Marussia have not produced their car as quickly as the other teams and this is almost certainly going to affect their performance in the first few races.
Reality F1 strategy suggestions
There are more than 10,000 possible combinations of two drivers and two cars within a budget of £70M in Reality F1. This can make picking a team a little daunting, so here are some strategy suggestions:
- Pick an expensive driver who is likely to be a front runner throughout the season (Fernando Alonso for example) and then fill the rest of your team with cheaper components. The points picked up by the good driver will keep your performances consistent. Your cheaper components may be less reliable but you will score well provided they finish.
- Choose a cheaper driver or car initially. Slow but reliable cars and drivers will score well at the start of the season when they will be able to pick up places due to other cars suffering reliability problems. Your cheaper cars may rarely feature in the top ten positions but will score well for you provided they finish the race. As the season progresses you can change your team to reflect the in-form teams/drivers.
- Try not to put all your eggs in one basket. If you have Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov and a Caterham in your team then if either of the two drivers fail to finish then your car score will also be affected. However, if both drivers do well then the Caterham score will also be high so this approach can be a high risk strategy that sometimes pays off.
- Extra points are awarded for teams finishing a Reality F1 race in the top three positions. If you feel you are slipping further from the leading teams you could try a high risk strategy of changing your team to go for a couple of races wins and see if you can close the gap.
- Don't forget to adjust your pit stop strategy before each race. You will get ten points per race for having the same strategy as the race winner irrespective of the rest of your team. You can use F1 web sites to find out what pit stop strategy was used in the same race last season. It is also a good idea to keep an eye on the weather forecast for the race (again check F1 web sites). A changeable forecast can mean teams will make more pit stops to cope with track conditions and wet races are often slower so tyre wear is lower.
- Be prepared to make changes to your team as the season progresses. You have two free team changes so keep an eye on the results and the driver performance table.
However, the main thing is to have fun...
Game on!
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