Currently I am in the 2027 season, so 2022 was a long time ago in the game. This means that my understanding of that season is less about how I feel and more about what I think happened based on the screenshots that I took at the time.
First of all, I won manager of the season, so it must have been a good one.
We were really strong in pre-season testing, with Nick Chu 2nd and Cindi Stefanowski 10th. I still don't know how to capitalise on a strong pre-season test. It just gives you an idea of where your car's at heading into the new season, but at the end of the day your reliability is rubbish and you have to manage that. Looking at that screenshot, Stefanowski was really young when I joined the team. I don't normally sign really young drivers unless they're really talented, so 17 year old Stef was impressive at a young age.
We started the season well at Black Sea with both cars in the top ten and the team 5th in the standings. I've always managed to shine in wet qualifying and races. I think the AI suck at it. We had Kaori Aoto as the reserve driver, and she was always fast and good with feedback I think.
While I often shine in wet qualifying and races, sometimes I screw up the strategy and we have a miserable race. It doesn't help when your driver wrecks tyres too quickly, as must have happened in round 2 at Munich.
By the third round at Milan it's clear that 2022 was a grind. Barely in the top ten. I probably wasn't getting enough money to build new parts.
Tondela might have been the fourth round, and it was a shocker. Not in the top ten at any stage.
We bounced back massively with a double podium at Ardennes.🏆
I must have put new parts in the cars at Ardennes, because we continued our form with top ten capable cars at Munich 2. Aoto showed the world how good she can be by topping practice, as she tended to do on occasion. Moments like those got me excited about running her if one of the main drivers was injured or unwell.
Guildford was round 7, and Stefanowski beat Chu fair and square with 5th. I had to pit Chu at the end. His tyres were probably shot or I screwed up the fuel count. It was a wet race that started dry and got wet, then dried, then wet again. I probably ruined Chu's strategy with tyres, but Stefanowski had probably ruined her tyres and I didn't know it was going to get wet again.Stefanowski ahead of Chu in the drivers championship.
We returned to Tondela, struggled in qualifying, but got Chu to 6th while Stefanowski most likely ruined her tyres. Chu put himself within striking distance of Stef in the championship, which was disappointing. I always like to believe that my drivers are equally talented and that given the right opportunity they will get the same results, but sometimes Stef let me down. She was consistently behind Chu during the race, and I couldn't strategise her out of it because her tyres wore out too quickly.
Then we went back to Milan. We qualified on the edge of the ten, and raced forwards. Chu finished 5th while I had to pit Stef a few laps from the end. She should have been either immediately in front or behind Chu. Tyre life again.
Round 10 was the Black Sea again. It was mixed qualifying with Chu ahead in the ten and Stef down in 16th. That meant that unless Stef had stellar first stint or Chu had a shocker, they could be on the same strategy due to the gap between cars. We finished with both cars in the top ten, and Chu overtook Stef in the championship.
Round 11 was Pheonix. The standard layout of that track is always my Achilles heel. I don't know how to make it work. My engines are probably never good enough, and it's a power track so if you're not fast then you're gonna struggle. Just outside the top ten all weekend.
At Doha Stef showed how good she could be, keeping up with Chu and even beating him. We started outside the ten and got both cars in the back of the ten.
Then we went to Cape Town. Chu on the front row, Stef in the mid-pack. We simply didn't have great pace. Chu was up front until after his second stop. Then he couldn't get back. He finished 7th. Stef was in the top ten, but her tyres died in the last few laps and she fell backwards.
It looks like we were on for double top tens at Sydney, but Chu lost a wheel or wheelnut and had to make another pit stop. It was another wet-dry-wet race.
At the final race in Beijing, we were on the pace all race and got a double podium from top ten starts.🏆
Chu was 7th in the championship and Stef 9th. The team finished 4th. As I said before, I won manager of the season. Other teams must have had very mixed results, because 2022 wasn't my best year. Maybe because it was my first year starting with Archer.
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