F1 2020 Driver Market: F1 & F2 drivers available in new managerial mode - Driver ratings added to game


Formula 1 is making a much-needed return in July, just as F1 2020 is set to hit the shelves.

For years, the Codemasters game franchise has been tweaking and refining aspects of it, with a lot of focus on career mode.

Now though, the introduction of My Team has added a whole new game mode and far more options than ever before.

Driver transfers 2.0

In an interview with Red Bull Gaming, Game Director Lee Mather talked about what looks like a whole new way of driver movement.

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Last year was a first for the F1 franchise, as it allowed drivers to move teams in career mode. You could see George Russell move from Williams up the grid, or even see Sebastian Vettel switch to Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel in Mercedes on F1 2019
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It looks like F1 2020 will take things another step forward.

With the addition of two F2 seasons to the F1 2019 game, the world of motorsport opened up, and now Codemasters are taking it up a notch.

Driver Market for My Team & Career Mode

It's no longer just about picking your team to race in. Now you have to enter the driver market.

Within career mode, that will mean finding success on-track to make yourself more appealing to the top teams. If you are constantly crashing at turn 1 then Ferrari isn't going to be interested.

READ MORE: F1 2020 Career Mode: R&D changes are coming

For My Team, that will mean balancing your budget. You could sign up Lewis Hamilton as your teammate, but he'll come with a huge price tag on the driver market and cause you to struggle elsewhere.

It's not just Lewis that you can sign though. There's a whole other generation of racing drivers you can tap into...

F2 drivers promoted to F1

The mini-story of F1 2019 was about you gaining promotion from F2 to F1 with real drivers like George Russell, Lando Norris, and Alex Albon, as well as new characters Lukas Weber and Devin Butler.

As ever, Codemasters have gone one step further this year.

F2 action in F1 2019
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UP AND COMING: The F2 drivers are in the final step before F1

"[In My Team] You're no longer the commodity in the driver market, and it’s your team-mate and all of the other drivers in both Formula 1 and Formula 2."

F2 drivers can come up and be your My Team teammate!

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With the driver market straddling both My Team and career mode, we are hopeful that this means a few years into your career mode it could be Charles Leclerc and Mick Schumacher in Ferrari going against you and Russell in Mercedes.

That wasn't confirmed by Mather in his interview, but it seems likely that the F2 availability in My Team will be mirrored in career mode.

Driver ratings

Brand new for F1 2020 will be driver ratings. These will be comprised of four categories that each impact on- or off-track performance.

racing point driver ratings
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Experience will give you a Resource Points boost, whole Racecraft will make them more successful with overtakes. Awareness will help keep them on the road in tricky conditions or under pressure, and Pace is what you would expect, raw speed.

They also come with a contract cost that has a salary and a buyout cost.

F2 driver ratings

F1 drivers aren't the only people to get ratings. The Formula 2 drivers have as well.

F1 2020 My Team Career Mode Schumacher
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The F2 driver ratings are rather low. While none of these drivers are exactly slow their youth and lack of F1 experience has handicapped them against the established names.

For more articles like this, take a look at our F1 and Motorsport page.