Our tutorial explains how to manage facilities, sponsors and second drivers in F1 2020’s My Team.
Photo credit: Koch Media / Codemasters
“There is no such thing as luck. It’s good preparation and hard work” said the great Bruce McLaren. These words must be applied to the My Team mode in F1 2020 as well. Racing skills are important, but success and championships only come with the right management of your team. In this guide, we show you how to use your funds effectively in order to achieve victory.
Starting your career right
No step in My Team is as important as your first step. There are many options to choose from at the beginning of your career, be it the engine supplier, the first main sponsor or your second driver. All those decisions are crucial and need to be carefully considered. We created a dedicated guide to the perfect start in My Team, which you can read here:
F1 2020 MY TEAM GUIDE: THE PERFECT START
A quick summary for all those with little time: do not choose a Mercedes or Ferrari power unit but use the money for an experienced second driver instead. Pick up a sponsor with a big consistent income rather than big risky bonuses for difficult targets. Choose a Formula 2 driver with great Experience and Pace values.
Which facility to invest in first?
After acquiring the first sponsor deal, it is time to invest the funds into your team. There are six different facilities to upgrade in My Team. Four of them are related to research and development of your car. These facilities are Aerodynamics, Durability, Power Unit and Chassis. We already explained the upgrades of those four facilities and their effects on your car in our research and development guide. Make sure you check it out to dive deeper into the topic.
F1 2020 MY TEAM GUIDE: HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR CAR
We recommend focusing only on one car-related facility at the beginning, specifically the section you plan to upgrade first on your car. After getting enough R&D upgrades in that facility, it is time to improve the next car-related department in your management tab.
Not all your funds should go into your car, though. Marketing and Personnel are two equally strong departments which you should not leave behind. Especially at the start of your career, the Marketing department should be in your focus. There are two upgrades to buy:
- Activities management: Amplify the positive effects from Team Activities
- Sponsor relations: Increase your team acclaim at an accelerated rate
Sponsor Relations is the most important upgrade to get in My Team so make sure you upgrade it each time you have the necessary money and level. The upgrade helps you to significantly boost your team acclaim which helps you to find better sponsors as well as be more attractive towards better drivers on the market. The upgrade helps you to snowball from a small factory to an F1 empire.
Obtain the right sponsors
As we have mentioned the importance of sponsors, let us take a quick excursion into the companies that fund your business. There are two ways to gain money from sponsors in F1 2020. Each sponsor pays a consistent amount of money each week. Each race weekend, you can also get a bonus by fulfilling your sponsor’s task.
Particularly at the start of your career, we recommend choosing sponsors with bigger consistent cashflow over sponsors with big bonuses. The tasks for obtaining big bonuses are very hard to achieve as a beginner.
As your team progresses, you are able to sign with up to four sponsors. A good strategy for the mid stages of your career is to have three sponsors with big consistent income and one sponsor with a huge bonus payment. That way, you swim in cash on a successful race weekend but do not end up in debt when things do not go your way.
How to manage drivers in My Team
Besides all the facilities, money is also required to upgrade drivers. Although the game mode is about your team, you should always think about yourself first when upgrading drivers. Development Feedback and Power Mapping are particularly strong upgrades that you should always get for yourself as soon as they are available.
Your second driver is an important team member as well as since he boosts the acclaim and income of your team with his race results. There are two ways to upgrade his stats:
With season calendar activities, you can boost the stats of your second driver. However, these events only upgrade the stats of your current, not future second drivers. Therefore, only schedule second driver calendar activities if you plan to keep your teammate long term.
Upgrading the Personnel facility increases the stats of all second drivers you eventually hire throughout your career. The Analysis Suite upgrade is highly recommended, as it grants your teammate more experience, which results in more Resource Points generation and therefore car upgrades. This upgrade should be targeted early, no matter which second driver strategy you plan to run.
Conclusion and key learnings
Management has never been as detailed and complicated in an F1 game as in F1 2020. But with just a few key learnings, your path to victory is set.
At the beginning of your career, have a clear strategy. Choose one car facility to focus on first while getting marketing upgrades to boost your overall team stats. Choose sponsors with stable income over risky bonuses and most importantly: always spend your money if you can! Only save it if you plan to buy a better driver on the market soon. Adjust your Personnel upgrades and second driver activities to suit your long-term plan for your teammate, but make sure you always upgrade your own stats before your second driver’s.
With these learnings and good race results, your team is going to take over Formula 1. Now it is your turn to challenge Toto Wolff and Christian Horner and become the best team manager out there.
What is your most important advice for team management in F1 2020 My Team? Tweet us your opinion at @overtake_gg!
