F1 Manager 2024: Should You Underfuel Or Overfue For A Race

There are a lot of elements at play in F1 Manager 2024. Managing a race can seem daunting as you’ll have to look after the race strategies for both drivers as well as actively managing their ERS usage, driving behaviour and fuel usage.

When we look at the fuel usage, you can quickly find yourself in a hole if you ask your driver to race more aggressively. At the start of every race, you have the decision to underfuel or overfuel each driver, and this can heavily impact your decisions during a race and just how much each driver can push.

In this guide, I’ll show you whether you should underfuel your car in F1 Manager 2024, or if overfueling is a better option.

Fuel loads in F1 Manager 2024 explained

Of all the concepts in F1 Manager 2024, fuel usage is one of the simpler ones to understand. The key elements to note are that there is no refuelling in Formula 1. Instead, you choose how much fuel each car starts with, and that amount of fuel needs to last until the end of the race. If you run out before your driver takes the checkered flag, you will be forced to retire that car.

At the start of a race, you get the decision on how much fuel to put in each car. By default, the starting fuel load will be set to last the entire race based on a few assumptions. These include that both drivers will drive normally throughout the whole race and there will be no safety cars.

If this scenario did happen, you would have enough fuel to get to the end. However, there are a lot of variables during a race in F1 Manager 2024, and each one can affect your driver’s fuel levels.

Things that can affect your fuel level in F1 Manager 2024 are;

• Safety car: A safety car or VSC during a race will force all drivers to drive much slower. This can help you save fuel, giving you more fuel than needed, allowing you to drive more aggressively later in the race.
• Driver aggression: You can instruct your drivers to push harder, or save fuel, and both of these tactics will be used at various points during a race. The more aggressively a driver is told to drive, the faster they will use their fuel.

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The benefits of underfueling in F1 Manager

If you watch Formula 1 during a race weekend, you’ll often hear the commentators talk about fuel saving. This is because all Formula 1 teams intentionally underfuel their cars every race.

Any additional fuel you carry will make your car heavier, which will result in slower lap times. It is almost always faster to run less fuel (resulting in faster lap times), and fuel is saved during a race to ensure the car has enough fuel to make it to the end of a race.

The same principle is often true in F1 Manager 2024, with underfueling often being the fastest route. Below are the main perks of underfueling your car in F1 Manager 2024.

Your starting weight is lower

Lowering the amount of fuel in your car will lower its overall weight. The exact fuel weight is listed on the race preparation screen.

Faster lap times

Lower starting weight will result in a car that is naturally faster. Every 1kg of fuel in the car at the start of a race will result in 0.1 seconds of lap time on average. This means if we start the race with 105kg of fuel compared to lowering this to 95kg, our car will be around 1 second slower per lap.

Running a more conservative engine mode will result in less engine wear

By underfueling our car, we will need to instruct the driver to drive more conservatively during a race. This will let them save fuel during a race, ensuring they make the fuel last until the end of a race.

By driving more conservatively, the driver will push the engine less. This results in lower engine temperatures and less engine wear throughout a race. Over the course of a full season in F1 Manager 2024, wearing the engine less every race can result in fewer engine penalties at the end of the season.

Can you underfuel to the maximum?

You have a lot of adjustment available when choosing how much fuel to remove at the start of the race. You can generally remove around 7 or 8 laps of fuel resulting in a car that is around 10-15kg lighter at the start of the race.

But can you make it to the end of the race with this amount of fuel? During my testing, yes you can make it to the end of a race with the underfueling at its maximum. You will need to instruct your driver to drive conservatively all race to make it to the end, but it is possible.

If you do want a little flexibility, you can reduce the amount of fuel you remove by 1 or 2 laps to give yourself a safety net.

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Benefits of overfueling in F1 Manager

Choosing to put more fuel in each car can also have its own benefits. While adding more fuel to your car at the start will slow your natural pace, you can compensate in a few ways.

Drivers can push harder

More fuel in the car allows the driver to race more aggressively. You can instruct your drivers to push harder, which will result in faster lap times, and these faster lap times can often be quicker than if you had underfueled your car.

More fuel for overtaking

You’ll find that if you instruct your drivers to race conservatively and save fuel, it will be very easy for cars around you to overtake. If you have more fuel and are driving more aggressively, you can defend better and have better chances at overtaking other cars.

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How powertrain selection affects fuel efficiency

One important area when choosing your fueling strategy in F1 Manager 2024 is which powertrain your car is using. There are four powertrain suppliers in F1 Manager and each one has a different level of fuel efficiency.

Having a more efficient powertrain can allow you to underfuel your car more aggressively. This is because a more fuel-efficient powertrain will use less fuel during a race.

If you are creating your own team in F1 Manager 2024, it is important to consider fuel efficiency when choosing your powertrain supplier. A Renault engine may be naturally slower than the Honda or Ferrari, but the better fuel efficiency will allow you to underfuel your cars more, which in turn can claw back some of the lost performance.

The four powertrain supplier stats are;

	Ferrari	Renault	Honda RBPT	Mercedes
Power	95	80	100	90
Engine Durability	68	73	60	80
ERS Durability	57	62	50	70
Gearbox Durability	50	55	62	70
Fuel Efficiency	75	100	65	50
Best Finish Last Season	3rd	6th	1st	2nd

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