Introduction
Sportsbox.com provides fantasy sports games based upon real-life sporting events.
It's easy:
Formula 1 Manager gives you a virtual £50 million to put together a Fantasy F1 team to manage throughout the season towards glory.
Success as a Formula 1 Manager is secured by ensuring that your team's overall value increases as much as possible during the season. In short, every Manager begins the season with a team worth £50 million but it's the one with the most valuable team at the end of the season that will be standing on the winner's podium.
See how your team (drivers and components) will increase in value in the "Point system":
Point system
During the season you will need to stay sharp and make changes to your team set-up, reacting to the real-life Formula 1 race program. This element of 'realtime realism' continually tests your managerial metal and helps separate the pros from the amateurs!
What else is important to know?
The overall aim of the game is to maximise your team's value
As already said, the overall aim of a Formula 1 Manager is to build and manage his team so that it increases in value more than any other Manager's. This is primarily achieved by choosing the 'right' drivers and components. Put bluntly, the more successful a driver or a component, the greater it's increase in value - it's that simple! As you can probably tell, a large part of a Formula 1 Manager's skill is knowing when to change crucial team components such as drivers, engines and chassis to maximise team advantage.
The game is divided into Game Rounds
The change in the overall value of your F1 team for each Game Round depends upon the performance of the drivers and other components you choose for your team before the race.
View race list >>
Just like a new house, the best way to familiarise yourself with Formula 1 Manager is to have a good wander around and explore all the site's nooks and crannies. We have purposely made Formula 1 Manager as user friendly as possible and you will soon discover that in many sections of the site it is possible to dig in even deeper if you want. It's well worth spending some time acquainting yourself with the teams of competing Formula 1 Manager's and the real-life status of drivers, teams and other components. After all, no one wants to be last on the grid, do they?
Team composition
Your team should consist of:
- 4 drivers*
- 2 chassis
- 1 engine
- 1 pit crew
- *Possibility of 1 "Talent"
This means that your Formula 1 team can comprise a maximum of five components from the same F1 team (two drivers, a chassis, an engine and a pit crew).
Any money not spent after purchasing to put your team together remains in the bank and is available to be used to fund future purchases. The total starting value for all teams (including bank deposits) is £50 million.
Game Rounds
The Formula 1 Manager season is divided into Game Rounds with one Game Round corresponding to one real-life F1 Grand Prix Race.
A Game Round begins the moment the game is 'unlocked' (when the ability to make alterations to your team is resumed) after being 'locked down' for the duration of a Grand Prix Race and the short period following it.
This means that a Game Round consists of: [Transfer period - race - update]
Formula 1 Game 'lock-down' commences approximately five minutes before the qualification stage of a Grand Prix begins, meaning that you must make your managerial decisions without the benefit of knowing driver starting positions on the grid. During game 'lock-down' it is not possible to make any changes to your team. This includes the creation of new teams, the buying and selling of drivers, changing of engines or chassis and changing of "Talent". Access to trading will be given again at approximately 03:00 PM the day after the race (when results have been updated and verified).
Each team is awarded value increases (and decreases) at the end of each Game Round, the level of which corresponds directly to the performance of the team's drivers and other elements for that Game Round. Remember, the values your team are awarded depend upon the performance of the drivers and other components you chose for your team before the start of the qualifying rounds for the Grand Prix corresponding to that Game Round.
Buying and Selling
You are able to buy and sell drivers and change other components of your team up to approximately five minutes before the start of the qualification stage of a Grand Prix. For each trade you make, a payment fee corresponding to 0.5% of the total purchase price is charged (see more under and this fee is deducted from your "bank" once you have confirmed the trade.
Remember that no trading fees are charged upon trades before the start of the game March 26th!
Talent
You can choose a "Talent" from among the four drivers you have on your team. The "Talent" will be awarded value-increases just like every other driver for each Game Round but with one significant bonus; any value increase for your "Talent" will be matched by an additional, equal payment to the team's bank account!
One restriction in choosing a Talent is that his purchase price must be less than £5.5 million at the point in time when he is chosen as the Talent. Note, that if you choose a Talent that performs well, and consequently his purchase price raises enough to go above the £5.5 million mark; you are still allowed to keep him as your Talent. If you decide to choose a different Talent after his value has risen over the £5.5 million level, then you are not able to select him again for the rest of the season, however. It is also worth noting that if you put together a team whereby all of the team's drivers have a purchase price of £5.5 million or more, then you are not able to designate any drivers as a "Talent"!
To change your "Talent" (from your eligible drivers) is always completely free, so choose the driver you expect to have the most profitable Game Round. As choosing who to have as your "Talent" is part of your overall team selection, you can of course only change the team's "Talent" whilst the Game is 'unlocked' before the qualifying round starts.
Please note again that the "Talent" bonus is not given to the driver, but is deposited directly into the team's bank account as other Managers will own the same driver without having chosen him as "Talent" for their team.
System update
The results from each Grand Prix undergo a full verification and updating process that is completed the day after the day that the race has taken place. Once the game has been updated, the game will remain 'locked down' until approximately 15.00 the same day. As such, values relating to race performance are not officially awarded to teams until the race has been manually verified by us.
As you are probably aware, decisions are sometimes taken in real-life concerning teams and their drivers which have the potential to change the values they have previously been awarded/deducted. In such cases, Sportsbox.com reserves the right to assess whether any values need to be awarded/deducted retrospectively in light of these new developments. The decision of Sportsbox.com in the case of such disputes is final.
F1 engine and chassis changes
When a Formula 1 team decides in real-life F1 to switch to using an engine or chassis different to that than originally planned for that season, this will not affect the game. For example, if a Formula 1 Manager within the game has chosen to use this season's Ferrari engine but the Renault F1 team in real-life suddenly decides to use some other engine (perhaps one from a previous year or another manufacturer), then the player within the game will not be affected but will instead continue to receive value increases/decreases for the engine that Renault uses in reality - despite it being one different to that originally chosen within the game.
Driver and component selection
There is no sure fire recipe for success in Formula 1 Manager. Although a driver may have driven incredibly well over the past few races, you never really know just how well he will perform in the next race, especially as so many things - such as the car's condition, weather etc. - can be out of his control. To succeed as a Formula 1 Manager you need a combination of luck and skill, based upon your mix of knowledge, experience and good fortune. Having said that, we can give you a few expert tips to keep in mind when putting together your Formula 1 team:
- Does the driver look like good value for money? Sure, the expensive drivers are more likely to drive well but there are still many drivers out there that can prove to be absolute bargains. Some drivers put in amazing performances throughout the entire season in relation to their purchase price. One of the key elements of being a good Formula 1 Manager is to spot those drivers that you think are perhaps undervalued; potentially earning your team more dosh for less.
- On which track is the next race being held? Both teams and drivers alike have different 'favourite' tracks and this is worth keeping in mind. Sometimes it's because they are going to have a 'home crowd' or perhaps it’s simply because they have always been successful on a specific track in the past as its suits their driving or engine style. As a result, it is often worthwhile looking at the F1 history books to see if you can spot any patterns between drivers/teams and successful performances. In addition to these aspects, it's worth remembering that the drivers in real-life F1 are competing over the period of a season and so sometimes they may be prioritising certain races over others, or be under orders to not finish ahead of a team-mate for tactical reasons!
- What is the weather forecast for the race? Some drivers are significantly better at driving in the wet than others for instance, and some teams have cars which cope better in hot weather than others. Consequently, a Formula 1 Manager can be highly rewarded for looking carefully at the forecasted weather conditions (which can change dramatically during a race) before they make their final team decisions.
Hidden Teams
All teams are "hidden" until 'lock-down', which occurs at the start of the qualifying round for a Grand Prix. When teams are "hidden", it means it's not possible for Formula 1 Managers to see what changes have been made to other competing teams since the previous Game Round. As a result, other Formula 1 Mangers are not aware of any changes you make to your team (including driver changes, engine and chassis choice, change of "Talent" etc.) until the start of the qualifying round.
Remember, at the point of 'lock-down' it is no longer possible to make any changes to your team - so take advantage that all your tactical decisions are made out of view from other competing Formula 1 Managers! Naturally, every team is completely "hidden" at the beginning of Game Round 1, as at that point, no races have been held and so there is no previous game round data available.
End of game
The game ends once the final Game Round has been completed, and all values have been awarded, deducted and verified app. November 26th 2011.