F1 2020 Game: Ex-F1 drivers need to be in the My Team Driver Market


F1 2020 is quite possibly the best Formula 1 game of all-time.

2020's My Team mode has seriously impressed us and it's added marked value to the official F1 game. The Driver Market allows you to sign any of the current Formula 1 drivers or the 2019 F2 drivers to race alongside you.

As great as this is, we always need to strive for more. Codemasters have the ability to add more drivers into the market pool and who better than those drivers which used to compete in the sport?

Why we need them

Despite it only being September, some driver moves have been confirmed for 2021. For example, double World Champion Fernando Alonso will make an F1 comeback for Renault.

Nico Hulkenberg
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Furthermore, Nico Hulkenberg made a surprise return to racing for Racing Point at Silverstone. Because he's not a full-time driver, Hulk's not included in F1 2020.

We understand why one-off circuits like Turkey's Istanbul Park and Portugal's Portimao can't be added into F1 2020. It simply takes too long to scan an entire track and design the textures for the surroundings.

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However, drivers are a different challenge and one that Codemasters should be able to have the resources to complete with ease.

In Alonso's and Hulkenberg's cases, Codies already have the helmets and driver avatars, as they were most recently in F1 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Who should Codies include?

The aforementioned Hulkenberg and Alonso are the obvious choices. There are many more that used to race in the sport. There are also drivers that are still officially associated with the teams as either test or reserve drivers.

Renault R26
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Former F1 drivers that are still around the paddock include Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez, who are Mercedes' test drivers. Paul di Resta was recently named as McLaren's reserve driver too.

Robert Kubica is Alfa Romeo's reserve driver after driving for Williams last season. Pascal Wehrlein is contracted to Ferrari and Sergey Sirotkin tests for Renault.

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When you include those that are racing in other series like Marcus Ericsson in IndyCar and Jean-Eric Vergne in Formula E, that's a huge increase in the drivers you can sign.

All of these drivers have competed in Formula 1 since 2010 as well, so Codemasters have their profiles "on file" so to speak.

As it stands, Sergio Perez is without a seat in 2021, and it would be a great shame to see him disappear from the game too.

Is it possible?

Delays for major video games and other media have been commonplace in 2020. However, despite this, Codemasters got F1 2020 released on-time and to an extremely high degree of quality.

f1 2020 black mercedes bottas full
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UPDATE: Can Codies produce an update to include more drivers in the game?

Adding these old faces into F1 2020 wouldn't take much time from Codies' development team, even while they're busy with F1 2021.

However, red tape could still intervene. A lot of these drivers are contracted to teams in other series, so it might not legally be possible to have them in F1 2020.

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Codies could go the old PES route of having fake drivers with similar names to the real athletes. Although, this could come off as tacky, and might compromise the quality of F1 2020.

It is possible for this to happen though, as drivers can now move around from team to team, so Codemasters are safe on that front.

There will be more drivers in the pool eventually though, as the 2020 Formula 2 drivers will be added into the game eventually.

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