Tips and Observations

[gordonzolar]

Inspired by this thread, how about collecting some tips and observations?

- horsepower and weight seem to be the only important factors for performance concerning engines. haven't figured out what the star-rating represents. giving every engine except one (Jordan's Peugeot for example) half a star at the beginning of the game does not seem to change a lot - Jordan are still a middling team, even with a 5 star engine

- EMS should not be higher than your driving aids (doesn't matter if active or not) otherwise you are sure to crash with electronic failure. (this is fixed in version 1.02b)

- hiring a good chief designer is vital for next years chassis.

- focus on driving skill in testing may improve the drivers quickness, while focusing on driving a whole race distance may improve his stamina.

- giving your driver a long term contract doesnt keep other teams from signing him after half the season when the contract is up. don't sign a driver for 32 races, sign him for 16 and then immediatly sign him for another 16 races after he is on your team. This way he will stay on your team for good.

- its not possible to see the driver abilities of unsigned drivers (or is it?)

- ai teams sometimes develop driver aids at the end of the year which subsequently are unbanned by FIA the next season. may be worth a look when stealing a technology

race management

- do or die in qualifying is overpowered

- tyre pressure in wet conditions needs to be higher than in dry conditions

- first two laps after pit stops are very slow...

- ...which is why pitting later than your opponents is an advantage

- skipping the race action results in a simulation based upon last years constructors standings, not on the actual performances of the team this year.

feel free to add or correct

[das111]

- horsepower and weight seem to be the only important factors for performance concerning engines. haven't figured out what the star-rating represents. giving every engine except one (Jordan's Peugeot for example) half a star at the beginning of the game does not seem to change a lot - Jordan are still a middling team, even with a 5 star engine

to me it's seems the opposite, same engine but half a star is like 3 to 5 seconds slower compared to a 5 star, bhp seems to be the least valuable stat

does anybody know what does car improvement affect during testing?

[sean]

Mar 27, 2020 0:34:53 GMT 2 gordonzolar said:

- horsepower and weight seem to be the only important factors for performance concerning engines. haven't figured out what the star-rating represents. giving every engine except one (Jordan's Peugeot for example) half a star at the beginning of the game does not seem to change a lot - Jordan are still a middling team, even with a 5 star engine

race management

- do or die in qualifying is overpowered

- first two laps after pit stops are very slow...

- ...which is why pitting later than your opponents is an advantage

1. I'm not sure what the star rating means and I've just quickly checked the games manual and it doesn't go into detail about it but if I were to guess it would have something to do with the engines reliability. From my experience playing the game engines with 3 stars or less are more likely to breakdown during the race or even during qualifying while 4 to 5 stars engines will rarely ever have these problems.



2. Yeah do or die is very overpowered you can get pole position even sometimes with one of the slowest cars on the grid if you want realism never use it.



3. Tried this last night I pitted a bit later by 3 laps than what the game usually recommends and I managed to get both cars into the top 5 (before most of the time we were finishing just outside the top 10).

[gordonzolar]

Mar 27, 2020 11:06:35 GMT 2 das111 said:

- horsepower and weight seem to be the only important factors for performance concerning engines. haven't figured out what the star-rating represents. giving every engine except one (Jordan's Peugeot for example) half a star at the beginning of the game does not seem to change a lot - Jordan are still a middling team, even with a 5 star engine

to me it's seems the opposite, same engine but half a star is like 3 to 5 seconds slower compared to a 5 star, bhp seems to be the least valuable stat

does anybody know what does car improvement affect during testing?

My findings only base on a quick one race test. Maybe the effect is greater in the following seasons?

I think car improvement during testing is for new parts, while car performance is primarily for pre-season testing of the new chassis. At least that is how I handle it.

However in the manual it says "Chassis Design also gets a bonus as the test driver is available all year round to perform testing" which could hint at doing "car improvement" may also fasten up the chassis design process or even improve the chassis for next year.

1. I'm not sure what the star rating means and I've just quickly checked the games manual and it doesn't go into detail about it but if I were to guess it would have something to do with the engines reliability. From my experience playing the game engines with 3 stars or less are more likely to breakdown during the race or even during qualifying while 4 to 5 stars engines will rarely ever have these problems.



2. Yeah do or die is very overpowered you can get pole position even sometimes with one of the slowest cars on the grid if you want realism never use it.



3. Tried this last night I pitted a bit later by 3 laps than what the game usually recommends and I managed to get both cars into the top 5 (before most of the time we were finishing just outside the top 10).

Good point. I thought about reliability as well. However there are a lot of 5 star Renault engines blowing up in my savegame, but this could be because the recommended fuel for Renault engines is only a 2 star supplier and nearly all teams use 2 star fuel.

I think Lamborghini has the most powerful engines in terms of horse power but are also very heavy and only have 2.5 stars. Anyone has experience racing with those engines?

3. This is because you have 3 more quick laps. After your pit stop you are doing 2 slow warm up laps like everybody else, but you end up in front of a few cars that will have trouble overtaking you.

Fuel seems to be the most important factor for laptimes, tyre condition does not really matter too much at all. I've seen lap records broken with very bad tyre condition shortly before a pit stop with 1 or 2 laps of fuel remaining.

[sean]

Some tips and advice from the games manual,

Finances

Try to race at your home base track which will be cheaper if your team doesn't have one look for the cheapest track.

Prize Money

$10,000 per point

$10,000 for pole position

$5,000 for the fastest lap

The FIA will also award teams an amount of money each race for just turning up this is based on last years performance,

$25,000 for 5th

$50,000 for 4th

$75,000 for 3rd

$100,000 for 2nd

$125,000 for 1st

Running low on money?

• Make sure you do your Testing and Car Set-up beforehand so you can take the bare minimum of staff to a race thus saving on transportation costs.

• If one of your lead driver’s cars is badly damaged swap it for the spare rather than buying a new one straight away.

• Be selective about what parts you replace between races; just look at those below 75%.

• Don't do practice just qualifying and the race itself.

• If you’ve built any facilities you can sell them.

• Drop the test driver.

R&D

Make sure you design next year's chassis at a rate of at least 7% per race any lower and your chassis won't be ready in time for the start of next year. So get your new chassis built before the end of the season; a huge performance loss will occur otherwise. If necessary, hire more staff or switch their attention from R&D work to new chassis design.

You can acquire other technology from other teams if their security is not tight and you can afford the investigation fee.

In planning for the future of your team, you’d be wise to look at the possibility of Building Facilities. Under the Design button, Building Facilities allows you to plan long-term construction of facilities that can substantially help your team:

• CAD/CAM - This helps with Design and Engineering Time use.

• Carbon Fibre Construction Unit - This helps with building External in-house parts

cheaply.

• Wind Tunnel - This saves on the cost of renting a Wind Tunnel and also helps improve the capabilities of new chassis designs.

• Manufacturing Unit - This helps with building Internal in-house parts.

• Testing Rig - This helps with the testing of major new components such as the chassis and the engine, reducing the amount of time you need to spend on the test circuit.


All these facilities are necessary to get the car designed, built and tested. If you don’t have them you’ll have to pay to hire them. So, plan carefully for what you think you’ll need.

Pre-Race Testing

It is very important to Test under the following circumstances:

• You fit a newly developed part to your car

• A new chassis is being used

Otherwise, your car will suffer performance problems and, in some circumstances, have trouble finishing a race.

If you want to get your car going the fastest you must Test. Unfortunately, this costs money but this is one of the main reasons the top cars are so much better than the others; they really do have extensive testing programs in place. We recommend that you test only one component at a time - in that way you can accurately measure the change in performance. Just a few laps round the track is usually all that’s needed. The other benefits of Testing (such as driver practice) should not be forgotten. All drivers benefit from a little testing.

Try to test the cars twice before each race. When you have improved components make sure they are fully tested. Take note of what your drivers tell you.

Allow your cars time on the track so boost the number of laps to six or seven. Check Internal/External Design and remind yourself what Driver Aids you have assigned.

Remember to test all your cars.

Qualifying

You must have your Car Set-up right by now. You only have 12 laps to get your best time and your tyres normally need a lap or two to be at their best - so go out in 3 to 4 lap bursts. Ideally, your drivers want a clear track so see what’s happening and let them loose. Try for a time at both the start of the session and again towards the end. Don’t make the mistake of putting in too much fuel or using up all your tyres - try and keep at least three sets back.

Make sure you have enough FUEL in the tank to take the car to the next Pit Stop if you don't your drivers won't automatically come in for more fuel.

Make sure you give your drivers the correct ORDERS (initially, choose something like ‘Pace Yourself’)

If things are not going well, go to the CAR SETUP screen and get more Advice

Race

In-race pits serves the same function as the Qualifying Pits BUT when a car comes in during the race it will be timed and you will be given a time for your stop in seconds. This time spent will affect the car’s placings. In race, keep an eye on the weather and remember to fit Wets if it begins to rain - keeping slicks on will almost certainly make your car spin off or slow it down.

Analysing the Results

• Check your Profit & Loss by clicking on the Finance button in the Main Menu screen and see where you spent the money.

• Check the Sponsors to see if anyone has been impressed with your performance.

• Check your E-Mail to see what’s happened to your Contracts and Staff. You may (if you were one of the previous
season’s top six) be receiving money from the FIA anyway, just for turning up.

• Remember to check all car parts and replace those that are worn and likely to fail.

• Remember to Test the cars/drivers again.

Driver Skills what do they mean?

Quickness: Used when deciding how fast the driver is capable of driving.

Experience: This will help prevent the driver messing up at the start and how they handle tricky situations - such as when they’re being blocked.

Overtaking: Overtaking is hard enough in Formula One, so if you’ve got a good car you want someone who can slice through the field.

Luck: Used to see what happens when a car goes out (in other words, how easily and how serious injuries the driver may suffer). Also affects the chance of a mechanical failure a little bit.

Stamina: Comes into play at the latter stages of a race. A low stamina increases the chance that the driver makes a big mistake then.

Wet Weather: Good drivers in here get a performance boost when raining, while low-skilled drivers in this category may suffer from wet weather.

Character: Used mostly in contract negotiations, strong characters are generally harder to negotiate with.

Reliability: Can you depend on the driver that he/she will do as he is told to do without losing concentration (and spinning off/crashing).

Intelligence: Used with Experience when the driver must handle tricky situations. Also affects how well the driver can improve his/her skills.

Ambition: Used in negotiations and deciding whether to modify motivation - ambitious people want to win, else they want to leave.

Leadership: Helps train the two lower drivers (driver two and test driver).
Motivation: Affects the drivers speed and reliability as well as negotiations; low motivation drivers are generally slower, less reliable and tougher to negotiate than their well-motivated counterparts with the same other skills.

Air Box

If enough cold air doesn’t get to the radiator and engine then the car will overheat and fail. The size and position of the cooling duct determines the level of airflow. It’s worth bearing in mind that if you change other external designs then you might have to change the cooling duct as well.

Gearbox

You must have a strong enough gear box for your engine’s horsepower. So, if ever your Mechanics recommend a new gear box get one fast, else you’ll find your drivers going out during the latter stages of the race.

Vanes

These aerofoils are used to increase the airflow to the cooling duct. By experimenting with the single, double, vented and in-house versions, you can cool the engine much more efficiently.

Fuel Tanks

These do not have wear or quality ratings but they do have a % rating. This means that the fuel tank, once full, will take a
car for the indicated percentage of the race distance - thus a 40% tank will let a car cover 40% of the minimum distance of each Championship Race. If you want to change your racing strategy you can fit bigger tanks.

With the fuel stop strategies employed by teams, it’s important to have the correct type of tank capacity for your F1 car. The options are to have a larger tank (100%) that weighs more but takes you further with less stops, or smaller tanks (40%, 50% etc.) that make the car lighter (and faster) but will require extra refuelling stops.

Electrical System

Getting the right system is a question of balancing the need for low weight with high reliability and reasonable cost; the heavier the system, the cheaper and less reliable it will be.

Cooling System

High performance engines generate vast amounts of heat and you need a very efficient system to keep it cool. This section enables you to decide on how you want to move cool air into the car.

Suspension

It’s important to pick the right type of suspension to aid braking and handling. Of course, the most expensive model isn’t necessarily the most effective.

Listen to your chief mechanics advice

Take note of what he says because he knows what he’s talking about. He’ll give you vital guidance on internal design adjustments to be made to improve:

Engine Power

Engine Acceleration

Chassis Aerodynamics

Chassis Internals

Car Condition

Car Weight

Sponsors

• Select the Sponsors button and select the Sponsors Time option. Take the Advice given and concentrate on working with any selected sponsor.

• Increase Time Allocated by the Commercial Department for that sponsor.

• The quality of your Commercial Manager and Assistants is important to wooing the right people.

Security

It’s not essential to have a security contract, but it’s wise to set one up if you intend to research and develop technology. Otherwise, you’ll find other teams have ‘acquired’ and benefited from all of your hard (and expensive) work.

What do the advice comments mean?

We need to improve our engine power

We need to improve our engine acceleration

Advice Comment: We need to improve chassis aerodynamics

Then use Manufacturing to develop those items listed to improve race performance


The chassis needs testing

Test the car until the Chief Mechanic is happy (this may take over 300 laps) else your car will suffer a huge performance hit

The parts in worst condition

Replace all parts below 75%

Dealing with driver contracts

They won't agree to any more than 3 seasons. They will always want more money if you want them to remain. They will become unhappy if you reduce their bonuses.

How to attract a new driver?

Some drivers will be easier to get than others those with a strong character and high morale will be tough to negotiate with but if their morale is low it means they aren't happy at their current team and therefore may be easier to negotiate with. You will also find number 2 drivers are more eager to move teams.

[gordonzolar]

The other benefits of Testing (such as driver practice) should not be forgotten. All drivers benefit from a little testing.

Has anyone figured out, if testing the driver ability in rainy conditions improves wet weather skill? Do other abilities such as ambition etc. change throughout the years?

[sean]

Mar 27, 2020 23:41:21 GMT 2 gordonzolar said:

The other benefits of Testing (such as driver practice) should not be forgotten. All drivers benefit from a little testing.

Has anyone figured out, if testing the driver ability in rainy conditions improves wet weather skill? Do other abilities such as ambition etc. change throughout the years?

From what I've observed

Character - I don't think it changes much maybe if a driver becomes successful it will increase a bit.

Quickness - Can change if a driver is 1 or 2 stars I've seen them improve up to 3 and even 4 stars usually just racing and gaining experience does this and also testing can make them quicker however drivers in their 30's will see their quickness gradually drop by 1 star and those in their early 40's can see their quickness drop down to 1 or 2 stars even though in their prime they were 5 stars.

Experience - Overtime this increases the more they race.

Overtaking and Wet Weather - I don't think they change too much overtime I've seen some drivers increase their ratings here as they progress through their careers I believe just testing and racing helps increase this.

Ambition, Leadership, Intelligence and Reliability - I'm not sure if this is something the player can change it might be just something the game itself decides on but yes I've seen them change about.

Luck - I've noticed if a driver had a bad season with crashes, mistakes then the following year the luck rating drops and if they had a good season with no mistakes, crashes the luck can increase.

Stamina - Like with quickness it can increase over time especially with younger drivers as they get older into their late 30's and early 40's this rating will drop quickly.

[tommek]

Mar 27, 2020 0:34:53 GMT 2 gordonzolar said:

- skipping the race action results in a simulation based upon last years constructors standings, not on the actual performances of the team this year.

Hello,

first i want to say SORRY for my English!

Can i never Skip the Race or is it different if i quit at Lap 2 or maybe Lap 30?

When i simulate the Whole Race Weekend, is there the same Problem?

I hope somone can understand my question. Perhaps someone can explain it in German?

all the best Thomas

[dnpq]

- horsepower and weight seem to be the only important factors for performance concerning engines. haven't figured out what the star-rating represents. giving every engine except one (Jordan's Peugeot for example) half a star at the beginning of the game does not seem to change a lot - Jordan are still a middling team, even with a 5 star engine

From my own experience I will say that all engine parameters are important to varying degrees in a certain period. The star rating, I think, reflects the overall performance of the engine, those of its ability to be competitive on different types of tracks. Power definitely affects reliability. With not the most powerful engine it will be hard to fight for the championship. I was convinced of this by playing the 1989 mod. Although I had the best quality Renault engine (650 hp), it was almost impossible to beat McLaren Honda (4 stars, 675 hp). On slow tracks I had an advantage, but this was not enough for a general victory in the championship. Especially on tracks like Mexico City, Silverstone, Adelaide Mclaren had an overwhelming advantage, I am sure, not least because of the powerful engine. But I'm not saying that you cannot win without a powerful engine. Good chassis and acceleration compensate for the lack of horse power. Everything is like in real racing. I had several successful and almost successful attempts to win with frankly weak engines (Minardi Ford (JD Zetec-R), Minardi Fondmetal, Force India Proton). Of course, there is a chance that the best opposing team will sign a contract with the conditional Yamaha, but this is another conversation.

[gordonzolar]

Mar 28, 2020 5:37:11 GMT 2 tommek said:

Mar 27, 2020 0:34:53 GMT 2 gordonzolar said:

- skipping the race action results in a simulation based upon last years constructors standings, not on the actual performances of the team this year.

Hello,

first i want to say SORRY for my English!

Can i never Skip the Race or is it different if i quit at Lap 2 or maybe Lap 30?

When i simulate the Whole Race Weekend, is there the same Problem?

I hope somone can understand my question. Perhaps someone can explain it in German?

all the best Thomas

Yes, there is a difference.

Lets say you lead the race with a Minardi and the race has 72 laps. If you skip after lap 2, you will end up at the end of the field. If you lead the race and skip at lap 50, you may end up around P6-10.

If you lead in lap 70 and skip the last two laps, you very likely win the race.

This works the other way around as well. Take Williams, start last on the grid, skip the race after two laps - you may end up first, which is impossible if you play through the whole race.

The game takes the standings from the lap where you press the skip button and simulates the race from there on based upon last years constructors championship. The longer you play before skipping, the closer the final standings reflect the simulated race.

From my own experience I will say that all engine parameters are important to varying degrees in a certain period. The star rating, I think, reflects the overall performance of the engine, those of its ability to be competitive on different types of tracks. Power definitely affects reliability. With not the most powerful engine it will be hard to fight for the championship. I was convinced of this by playing the 1989 mod. Although I had the best quality Renault engine (650 hp), it was almost impossible to beat McLaren Honda (4 stars, 675 hp). On slow tracks I had an advantage, but this was not enough for a general victory in the championship. Especially on tracks like Mexico City, Silverstone, Adelaide Mclaren had an overwhelming advantage, I am sure, not least because of the powerful engine. But I'm not saying that you cannot win without a powerful engine. Good chassis and acceleration compensate for the lack of horse power. Everything is like in real racing. I had several successful and almost successful attempts to win with frankly weak engines (Minardi Ford (JD Zetec-R), Minardi Fondmetal, Force India Proton). Of course, there is a chance that the best opposing team will sign a contract with the conditional Yamaha, but this is another conversation.

Thanks for the input

[tommek]

Hello,

thank you!

Whats about the drivers or engines?

For example:

Minardi whit Ford and Lamy
or
Minardi whit Renault and Schumacher

Is than the simulate result different?


All The best
Thomas

[gordonzolar]

I am not sure. Maybe slightly better, but not a lot I would say.

Another thing I found out: Switching from 7 to 6 gears is a lot faster depending on the driver aids (I assume).
Active suspension, traction control and turbo is activated right now and I am 1 to 3 seconds faster with 6 gears instead of 7 gears. Not sure how much the driver aids play into this though.

[rodrigoxm49]

I will read every tip here because this is very detailed game and everything can change with knowledge. Some things there I take years to understand better and I would love to hear before rage a lot on this game lol

+ Spun off. It's cause by bad tyre wear. So keep a eye on Lightning Icon on Race Bar and keep Tyre Temperature on Fine. Sometimes you need to take extra car to not forcing too much drivers specially on the lap after stop, temperature is always High. Sometimes I even need different Tyre Pressure on races, even with drivers saying that is wrong. This extra carefull will guarantee that you be able to finish 80% of races even with mediocre drivers.

+ Never hire a 2-star only driver as main or second driver, even with great attribs. He will be 2 seconds slower than teammates or even more. You can hire for third driver and make him test a lot to reach 3-star and finally you can put him on driver status.

+ Listen on Advice Icon mainly to know if you're need to improve Air Box and Cooling System. If you're having engine failures, this is probably the cause. You will need better Air Box and Cooling System. Or you have poor rating engine. At least 4 stars you will need. Below this number, the Engine Failures increase by a lot.

+ Look at the same Advice Icon to understand better about the weight. Weight is the most importate data that you have. If you're too heavy, you will need to take some parts to qualify the car better, but you will need more reliable parts as you can on race cars. 

+ Vanes. Probably the most useless thing on the game lol. Too much weight and for that reason, most of the times, useless. When you are geting to the final of the game, with lighter parts, depending on track, they can start to have some use. So at least for the firsts seasons, don't use it. 

+ You can use Ease Off as long as you want on FP. The pace keeps the same, but tyres and parts are preserved.

+ On races, you can reach 25% of wheel conditions, but you should avoid it using Tyre Wear Bar. On races, I try to use something between 25% to 35% on bar to make them go easy on tires. Remember that some order will change it again and some orders doens't. Soo keep a eye all the time. Another thing that you need to know: a lap after tyre change the tyre temperature will be always High (Very High if you made some mistake on tyre pressure). So be sure that you always use 50% on Tyre Wear Bar on this particurlarly lap. You can change it later for 25% to 35% to avoid spun off.

+ Try to keep the car on race the most you can, so use max 2 stops strategy and later stops. Let's say that you have a race with 72 laps. First ideal stop is 24 and the second is 48. You can vary, but not a lot.

+ If you're in the final weekend that will or its raining, there's something you need to now specially on races. You need to click on top right icon to know where's the actual track condition. Thats very important. If it's saying that Track is drying, for example, the track is WET, not DRY, so you still need DRY tyres and DRY setup (if you're on qualify or free practice). So if you want maximize your results, you need to keep a eye every single lap - only when condition is chaning, not on full raining/sun weekends. It takes 5~10 laps to change it from TRACK IS DRYING to TRACK IS DRY. When track is dry, you need imediatelly to call the better positioned driver to put dry tyres. Same for track geting wet, i don't remember the exact message. This is very importante on final weekends that are changing conditions.

+ Electronics Failures: I think everyone knows that. 1.02b version doesnt have this bug (sadly only some mods are 1.02b versions). To keep it short, basically if you have EMS on level 3, you can always use any Driving Aids at level 2. I don't remember if you can use it on level 3, but I think it's not. I like this bug because it makes the game much more challeng and you need to improve EMS at all costs.

+ Do or Die is extremaly overpowered. So the first tip I have is: never use it. Yes, never use it. It makes the game looks silly and your drivers will be 2 seconds faster than they should. If you want real challenge, avoid it. Other team order is absolutely useless in my opinion. Pace Yourself i usually use only because i'm used to it, but it looks incredible useless. It doesn't avoid anything in my experience.

+ You can always try to use banned Drivers Aids on qualify to get some advantage. It's extremely overpowered since you can use Turbo, for example, being at least 5 seconds faster. You could get a penalty and only that, nothing more.

TEST ALL THE TIME!!! One of the most important part of the game:

+ Try to test on home track, the cost is much lower
+ Always use a perfect setups on tests, in my experience it takes less time to reach better levels of improvements, performance, stamina or driving skills.
+ Driving Skills: Quickness is improved with time
+ Full Racing: Staming is improved with time
+ Car Performance: you need to use it everytime you can during a season. It will make your car much faster and reach the maximum performance. Drivers feel more confident too and thats important to avoid mistakes on track. How you know that car have reach a next level? Driver will say something like this --> the car performance is improved.
+ Car Improvenents: is need everytime you have a new part on the car. You need to test it. Driver will say something different too when the car is ready.

That's a part of I remember know.

[das111]

does anyone know what trigger the inhouse part to lose weight?
and why when i reaserch them sometimes they are banned?

[dnpq]

does anyone know what trigger the inhouse part to lose weight?
and why when i reaserch them sometimes they are banned?

When you exit the game and load the save, the in-house parts lose weight. The same problem exists in the first manager. Nothing can be done about it, although this trick can be useful. Suppose you developed a new gearbox, after exiting the game and loading the save file, the weight of the new gearbox will be like that of the best part, although yours may be of a much lower level. But I prefer to use this in the most extreme case, when the rules for minimum weight become especially difficult.

[felipefj]

Hello, I would like to know if someone have the car setups available to download. I'm struggling to make a good setup. Can someone help?

[sean]

You can download the perfect 2009 setups that has most of the original tracks www.mediafire.com/file/gbic5k0j2bz1d9j/2009_Perfect_Setups.zip/file

[zerotkin]

Great tips! Just recently found out there's actually a modding community for this game. Been playing my original CD-version for decades now. Here's a few things I've learned not yet mentioned here:

Tyre wear and temperature:

The tyre wear bar and tyre temps are interlinked. If you are saving tires using the tyre wear bar, your tyre temps will start increasing. On some tracks the effect can come quickly with small changes, on others nothing will happen even at 25%, but this is more rare. So, monitor your tyre temps when using the bar. If the temps go to "High", move the bar back to 50 (easily done with "Pace Yourself" followed by "Cancel Orders") and the temps will normalize in a few laps. If you tell your driver to use up more of the tires, it will similarly drop your temps below normal. The whole mechanic feels very counter-intuitive but that is definitely how it works.

I believe fuel consumption and engine temps work similarly, but I have not tested this.

Testing

Driver training is extremely effective. You can turn a pay-driver into a championship talent in a single season with some planning, given that the Intelligence attribute of the driver is at least 3. Quickness and Stamina both increase fast and experience usually by 1 per season. So, while a good driver is essential, you don't necessarily have to pay a lot to get one. I've won championships with a driver who has paid 2.5 million for the privilege. The great thing about pay-drivers is that they never seem to want money. They are always willing to make a new deal with the same income for the team.

Training stamina is done with "Full Race Distance" testing and thus can become rather expensive. To mitigate this, first do your other car development testing and after your parts are very worn and the engineer won't allow for a full race distance, that's the perfect time. The driver will benefit from the training even if the car was really allowed to go out for only three laps. It's a bit of a gamey move for sure, but each to their own whether to use it or not.

Do or Die

Like mentioned, totally overpowered in quali. However, in races any sort of extensive use will lead to a crash. If your driver is good, the car is good and everything is in good order, the command can still be utilized nicely in races. For example, if you are staying out a lap or two longer than your opponent before pitting, you can go "hammertime" with this order and gain a few crucial seconds. I would recommend never to use it more than 2 laps in a row and even that has risks. Also, if your driver is stuck behind another car (usually a backmarker) and you really need to get past him, use Do or Die as you start approaching the best overtaking zone(s) of the track.

Insurance Scams

On the verge of bankruptcy? A crash-heavy idiot swallowing your budget? Better call Saul! Contact your attorney and sign extensive insurance schemes for your driver(s). Ideally you will want a really unlucky individual. Put him in a car with a totally wrecked braking system and give orders to do or die. Chances are he will choose right.

Pit Stop Strategy

Tyre wear only has very small variations on different tracks. Usually the wear is 3% per lap, but it can vary between 2-4% with the tyre wear bar at 50%. The effect is that one-stoppers are only plausible on long tracks with fewer laps or wet weather on any track, as wet weather tyre wear is always 1% per lap. These values are with 5 star tyre contracts, which you should always make. To make a one-stop work you must micromanage your tyre wear and temperatures quite heavily, but I've found it to be extremely effective on some tracks. That being said, in my most recent game in the 2009 mod with Williams I had Rosberg as no. 1 driver and he was always able to pull it off without problems, but Vettel as no. 2 crashed every time few laps after the pit stop. So there's still something I haven't quite figured out. There are also variations on how much tyre wear a driver has. Before Vettel I had a very experienced pay-driver and he was more gentle on the tires than Rosberg in every race. I think it has to do with Experience and possibly Quickness, with the first decreasing and the latter increasing tyre wear. I'm pretty sure there are other factors too, though.

[sean]

I'm thinking of making a YouTube video that will serve as a tutorial for new players as well as include all of the tips and observations made here.