F1 Manager 22 Haas U.S GP Challenge Made Me Understand How Hard It Is to Manage an F1 Team

To understand better, this was a save directly sent by Frontier, so I hadn't had to play almost the entire season in order to get to the race in Austin, Texas. The drivers' and constructors' championships are the same as in real life. After I loaded the save, everything was the same as in the base version of F1 Manager 22, entering the practice preparation window. The sponsor's objective for us was to finish 12th or above, a target that I considered to be reachable with at least one car.

To be honest, I skipped the three practice sessions because they weren't interesting enough. Kevin Magnussen surprised me with a P8 in FP3 (Free Practice). The first round of qualifying started, and I decided to send Mick Schumacher on the track first and, later on, Magnussen.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake by telling Mick to go aggressive right from the get-go. He damaged the car and, as a result, he wouldn't get out of the garage for the rest of the day. Only Magnussen was left to pick the team up with news that rain was coming fast over Circuit of the Americas. He had a great lap that assured his participation in Q2.

The rain started in the second round of qualifying, and every driver on the grid was fitted with intermediate tires. Unfortunately, my Danish driver only achieved a P13. However, the race was the important part of this weekend; all we needed was P12 to satisfy the sponsors. But I wanted more. I was aiming for a top-ten classification in order to get some points for my American team.

Sunday's main event came up. The race started without any incidents, and in the second lap, Magnussen made a move on Valtteri Bottas to regain the place lost previously. Seconds later, the Safety Car came out after George Russell locked his brakes and crashed into the barriers.

As a result, I wanted to try an ambitious strategy with Mick Schumacher because he was in P17, so I called him into the pits and fitted the hard tires. That was supposed to be the only stop for today. Meanwhile, the Danish driver from Haas was now only one place under the top ten.

Unfortunately, disaster struck when Mick Schumacher crashed with Nicholas Latifi. I tried to keep him on the circuit for the rest of the race, but in the end, the car had to be retired because the damage was too much—a quick end to a horrible weekend for my young German rising star.

Because of Mick and Latifi's incident, the Safety Car was out once again, and it was the perfect moment to call Kevin into the pits. By Lap 36, Magnussen was just outside the top five. The race was getting boring, but with less than 20 laps to go, Verstappen was leading comfortably, having more than 2.5 seconds over Leclerc. However, the defending world champion missed negotiated Turn 15, ending up in the sand. The Monegasque driver from Ferrari was the new man to beat in this event.

Unfortunately, I had to call Magnussen for another pit stop, but we still managed to get eighth at the end of the race with an extra point for the fastest lap. Charles Leclerc took the victory, with Max Verstappen finishing second, recovering from his mistake. The other Ferrari man (Carlos Sainz) completed the podium. We were so close to overtaking Ocon, but five points after the US Grand Prix were more than enough.

Ultimately, we met our objectives for this race, and I had a lot of fun with the Haas this weekend. Still, I understand how hard it is to manage a Formula 1 team, and I gained even more respect for all the managers in this motorsport.