CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
In Championship Season mode you will be racing individually for the drivers' championship and paired with an A.I. teammate for the constructors' championship, racing in (or possibly skipping) all 19 grand prix events in order for either the 2014 or the 2015 season.
First up, you have a decision to make about which season to choose for your championship, although there is not realistically any significant time to be saved by choosing either season over the other in terms of achievements. You will likely perform well enough that you have an unbeatable lead in both the drivers' and constructors' championships with a few races to go. While there is one achievement that can only be unlocked in the 2014 season, it is also likely one extra race victory will be needed in 2014 than in 2015. This is because in 2014 the final event of the season was worth double points, meaning 50 points awarded to the winning driver instead of the normal 25.
For the purposes of this walkthrough, you will race in the 2015 season, and complete a single race in 2014 to clean up the season-specific achievement. The overall approach is the same regardless of which season you select.
To get started, after first ensuring you are in the 2015 season, from the main menu select Championship Season to go through to the Team Selection screen. To ensure you have every advantage available, select the default team and reigning constructors' champion - Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Then advance to the Driver Selection screen and select whichever driver you prefer out of Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg. The A.I. teammate will drive well, into second place on most events, for whichever driver you do not choose. For the purposes of this walkthrough, you will choose Lewis Hamilton (the drivers' champion in 2014). Advance to the A.I. Difficulty Selection screen and choose Easy. Advance to the Participation Selection screen and choose Short Weekend. This will make each grand prix event consist of a 15-minute practice session, one-shot qualifying and a default race length of 25% full distance (although you can adjust down to 3 laps on the subsequent screen). Note that in Championship Season mode you cannot control the weather, it is locked to the Dynamic option. This means you will likely encounter at least a few sessions and/or races when it is raining, but you do not need to think about it too much, the game will select the best tyres for the conditions on your behalf.
Advance to the Session Options screen, and configure as follows:
- Practice > 15 Minutes
- Qualifying > One-Shot Qualifying
- Race Distance > 3 Laps
- Weather > Dynamic
Then select Race Settings and within configure as follows:
- A.I. Driver Lever > Very Easy
- Flashbacks > On
- Parc Ferme Rules > Off
- Vehicle Damage > Off
Back out of Race Settings, then select Assists. Here you can confirm and/or adjust your preferred assists options as you did in previous game modes. Back out again, then select Start Session to get the Australian Grand Prix started.
You will be in your car in the team garage with the 15-minute practice session just starting. Normally you can skip or turn off the practice session to save time, but there is one achievement to unlock before you make a habit of skipping practice. So select Go To Track, then Flying Lap to head out on to the track. This will put you near the end of a lap, ready to set a practice time. Having completed Time Trail and Quick Race modes you should be familiar enough with this circuit (and most others) to reliably outpace all other drivers. Put in an error-free lap and then from the Pause menu select Return To Garage.
Now back in the garage, select Session Info, then from the Track Overview screen, press once to toggle to the Best Times screen. After ensuring you have a comfortable margin, you can either press twice to accelerate time and make sure you don't lose the best lap time, or if you are confident enough then you can select Exit to go back to the garage view, then from the Pause menu select Retire From Session. Either way, you will end up at the Practice Results screen. As long as you have set a faster lap time than your teammate Nico Rosberg, you can advance and will unlock...
Me, Myself and IYou finished ahead of your team mate in a practice session in Championship Season.
The game will load into your one-shot qualifying session and you will need to select the tyre compound you wish to use. You can simply select the default, and then select Go To Track. On track, you are on a flying lap, about to start your single lap for one-shot qualifying, so make it count. After your lap is complete, the Qualifying Results screen is displayed. If you are not in first position with the best time, you should select Restart and set a better time. But if you are in first position, you can advance to unlock...
Pole SitterYou have taken pole position in Championship Season.
You are now on the front row of the grid, ready for the start of the race, so select Start Race.
The lights go out and with your driver assists and against Very Easy A.I. you should have a comfortable lead into the first corner. You should try to extend your lead steadily, because if you drop back to second place or lower, even momentarily, it will mean you miss out on an achievement in your first race (but you can get it instead in any future race, so don't be concerned). A good lead will also keep you out of traffic and will help you maintain a clean race (no collisions with other cars or objects) for one other achievement.
While not immediately obvious, your race objective is in the form of a finishing position you need to match or exceed, and this is shown at the top left of screen to the right of your driver name - the number in a circle. If the circle is green, you are meeting the objective according to your current race position. If red, you need to improve your position, but this should be rarely, if ever, an issue. Maintain your lead for the remaining laps until the chequered flag. Winning your first race will definitely unlock two achievements...
One AimYou have met or exceeded a single race objective given to you from the team in Championship Season.
Hopefully you will also unlock two more achievements, but if not, you can keep trying for them in every future race. So, if in addition to pole position and the race victory you also managed to stay in the lead for the whole race and set the fastest lap, and then also stay clean for the whole race, you will respectively unlock...
Grand SlamYou got a pole, win, fastest lap and led every lap in a Championship Season weekend.
Clean ClubYou have completed a Championship Season race without colliding with another car or object.
You can skip over the replay and the results screens and move onto the next grand prix. You are again presented with the Session Options screen, and at this point you can now set the Practice option to None and then select Start Session to proceed to Malaysia.
Over the course of the next 13 events, you need at least 9 pole positions in one-shot qualifying (for an unbeatable 10 poles in the season), and all 13 race wins (for 14 total wins in the season). You should also focus on the two achievements listed above if you did not successfully unlock them in your first race. On the Race Results screen there is always the option to select Restart if you somehow miss out on victory. Progress through the following races in season order as below:
- Malaysia
- China
- Bahrain
- Spain
- Monaco
- Canada
- Austria
- Britain
After Britain the grand prix schedule diverges depending on the season year. Regardless, continue on to victory for the next five races at locations as below:
- Hungary (Germany in 2014)
- Belgium (Hungary in 2014)
- Italy (Belgium in 2014)
- Singapore (Italy in 2014)
- Japan (Singapore in 2014)
Once the game has registered your 14th victory in a single championship season, it will unlock for you...
Master and CommanderYou got 14 wins in a single Championship Season to beat the previous record of 13.
With 14 races down, there are only five remaining for the season. If you wish to save gaming time and skip races without risking your victory at season's end, now is the time to evaluate it. As a preface to the below advice regarding skipping races, I would still recommend you complete the final grand prix of the season at Abu Dhabi in full, just in case the unlocking of the remaining achievements is conditional on such in the game logic.
If your teammate Nico Rosberg has been true to form, he will likely have scored enough points such that the constructors' championship is already secure for your Mercedes team. But Rosberg may also have scored well enough that your lead over him in the drivers' championship is not enough for you to safely skip all five remaining races, which are as follows:
- Russia (or Japan in 2014)
- United States (or Russia in 2014)
- Mexico (or United States in 2014)
- Brazil
- Abu Dhabi (double points awarded in 2014 only)
When you advance from the Race Results screen after a race, you move to the Drivers' Standings and Constructors' Standings screens. Alternatively, you can get back to these screens when resuming your existing championship season from the main menu (select Championship Season, then select Continue Championship Season). These screens contain the information you can use to determine your options for safe race skipping. In essence, if the points gap to second place in both drivers' and constructors' championship is more than the maximum points a single driver/team can still earn over the rest of the season, then you can safely skip all remaining races.
The following table is a guide to help decide race-by-race whether you can skip the rest of the season or not. Using the example of the cells highlighted in yellow and underlined - in the 2015 season, if you get to Round #15 - Russia - and you already have a lead of at least 126 points in the drivers' championship and a lead of at least 216 points in the constructors' championship, then you can skip the Russia race itself and all four of the other races in rounds 16 through to 19, knowing that you will have a lead of (at bare minimum) one point by the end of the season.
| 2015 | 2014 |
Round # | Location | Drivers' Lead | Constructors' Lead | Location | Drivers' Lead | Constructors' Lead |
15 | Russia | 126 | 216 | Japan | 151 | 259 |
16 | United States | 101 | 173 | Russia | 126 | 216 |
17 | Mexico | 76 | 130 | United States | 101 | 173 |
18 | Brazil | 51 | 87 | Brazil | 76 | 130 |
19 | Abu Dhabi | 26 | 44 | Abu Dhabi | 51 | 87 |
If at Round #15 you do not have a sufficient points lead, then you can participate and win the race, and then re-evaluate your lead prior to Round #16, repeating as necessary until both championships are guaranteed. If you are racing in the 2014 season, now is an ideal opportunity to complete at least one extra race to take care of the below achievement specific to 2014.
Once you wish to start skipping races, you also need to skip one-shot qualifying first. So for both the sessions that make up a grand prix event, bring up the Pause menu and select Retire From Session. Repeat as necessary until you reach Round #19. After you have raced and/or skipped through to begin Round #19, and as a precaution raced Round #19 itself, you will unlock three more achievements at once...
Construction TimeYou have won the Constructors' Championship in Championship Season on any difficulty.
ChampionYou have won the Drivers' Championship in Championship Season on any difficulty.
Pole TrophyYou have gained the most poles within a Championship Season.
Assuming you have only raced in the 2015 season thus far, then you need to mop up one last achievement in Championship Season mode that can only be obtained within the 2014 season. So, back out to the main menu, then select My F1, then select Switch To 2014 Season, acknowledge the confirmation message, and allow the game to load the other season. Again starting at the main menu, select Championship Season, and proceed through team and driver selection and configure settings for a new 2014 season, then proceed to the first event in Australia.
Now what you are required to do is to win a race from 22nd (last) place on the grid. So you should retire early from one-shot qualifying, this will put you where you need to be for the race. Continue on to start the race and then carefully but steadily overtake the other drivers until you hit the lead. Maintain the lead to take the victory, and unlock...
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