F1 Championship Manager is a new game being developed by a group of computer literate fans. Being a serious F1 fans and 'gamer' I wanted to find out what it was all about, so I sat down with developer Stuart Currall for a 'web chat'.

Ben Constanduros: On which season will the game be based on?
Stuart Currall: The game has been constructed based upon the 2001 season. We have a Research team that is ready to revise this at short notice should the need be there to use 2002 or any other season. This will be a relatively easy job.

BC: How many Teams and Tracks are going to be in the game?
SC: F1CM uses a 12 active F1 team limit as is the case in F1. There are 17 current Racetracks, and our ability to increase that with reserve tracks in future seasons is license dependent. The original plan was to have spare circuits at China and Russia (2 new circuits) plus Argentina, Portugal, Mexico, Holland, South Africa. Each F1 season will be a 17 race campaign.

BC: Are the Tracks going to have different weather conditions?
SC: Each Track has a unique % rating for Rain, Temperature range, and Changeability. So tracks with low changeability are more likely to stay the same throughout weekend. But, like real F1, anything is possible.

BC: Are the Track conditions going to be visible?
SC: The Track's condition are visible throughout every session. Current rubber (grip) on the circuit or current moisture (slip) levels. Temp and Sky condition is also clearly displayed.

BC: How many tyre varieties are there?
SC: Wet, Intermediates, and two Dry compounds will be available at each race weekend.

BC: What are the game phases?
SC: Each game phase is 1 week in time so there are 52 phases in the season - within each phase is the opportunity to perform R&D and to allow you a chance to look at your Design programs and sort out business deals. The game is linked directly to the calendar.

BC: How is the Driver skills & ratings system working?
SC: There will be an array of point ratings for each driver. Two types of rating systems are in the game: Historical (driver wins, poles etc) and Ability ratings (driver speed, wet weather skills etc). Driver statistics can vary with game events, performance and age. The direction of the change depends upon a whole range of factors not limited to age, confidence, morale and performances.

BC: Can the Drivers get Injuries/Retire/Die?
SC: Drivers can get injured and retire. Death may be a real danger in F1 but not in our game. Parents could be outraged, children mentally scarred - all that sort of stuff. Drivers will have a fitness rating, a driver less than fully fit is more likely to get injured.

BC: What about Driver Sponsorship?
SC: Some Drivers will carry sponsorship funding which is dependent on you being able to carry their logo on your cars. We have also included Marketing/Merchandising Deals (this is in addition to sponsorship deals) that will accompany high profile drivers. This was necessary to enable realistic driver salaries. M/M deals will only follow the successful bedding in of these high profile drivers and will not be part of any initial deal.