F1 2021 - Beginner's Guide

This guide is for people who are completely new to the F1 series of games, and will cover basic mechanics and gameplay. This guide may be updated over time, but to be honest I just want to get it out there ASAP for the game's launch.

F1 2021 - Beginner's Guide

Introduction:

This guide is for people who bought this game with zero prior experience of F1 games and need help getting to grips due to the game's lack of actual tutorials.
This guide is for casual players who want to get into the racing straight away without worrying about any of the game's more in-depth options.
This guide does not discuss more advanced features of the game, such as setups and career mode.

Tyres and Compounds:

Just like in real life F1, at each Grand Prix every team is given access to three compounds of dry-weather tyre.
Unless conditions are wet, drivers must use two of these three compounds during the race. (25% races and above)

"S" = soft tyres (Faster, but wear quickly)

"M" = medium tyres (Balanced)

"H" = hard (Slower, but wear slowly)

"I" = intermediate (For Light Rain)

"W" = wet tyres (For Heavy Rain)

MFD (Multifunction Display):

Brake Bias - I've never had much issue with this, but if your brakes have a habit of locking up, you can mess with this until you find a setting that makes the car suit you best.

Differential - On most tracks in the dry, you can keep this between 70-75%. On street circuits or in the wet though, it's best to keep this around 50%.

ERS - If you just assign an overtake button, you can usually just use that rather than adjust deployment through the MFD, though it's entirely up to you. (Overtake is LB by default.)

DRS:

If within 1 second of the car ahead of you, you can activate DRS, signified by a small beeping sound.
You can then activate it, reducing drag and increasing speed by opening a flap in the rear wing, allowing for easier overtakes.
Try to not make sudden large movements under DRS, as doing so will cause the rear end of the car to snap out and lose control.

Flags:

Yellow flag: There is debris on track or a slow car, race carefully until the green flag is waved. No overtaking is allowed under yellow flags.

Green flag: Sector is clear, continue racing.

Blue flag: Backmarkers (people a whole lap behind race leaders) should let a fast car overtake, if not they are given a time penalty.

Red flag: These haven't been in the F1 games since 2014, so don't worry about them.

Black flag: You've been penalised for dirty driving a few too many times, and have been banished to the Forza realm.

Chequered Flag: Session complete, finish the lap you are currently on.

[Ukrainian ball in search of gas]

no

[''O='-o..]

is there still fuel mix in 2021?

[Ukrainian ball in search of gas]

It's still LB for me, at least on pad. Wheel control defaults may have changed. I assumed most beginners play on pad, so I used the default controls for that.

[tcoster21]

On the g923 the default overtake button is "A", not "LB". It was "LB" in 2020.

[megaapplepie]

"banished to the Forza realm" nice

[Ukrainian ball in search of gas]

There isn't, I wrote this with 2020 in mind. Good spot, I'll remove it.

[MrBananaDude]

is there still fuel mix in 2021?

[Balanse]

Good guide spinning guide would be better

[A.Jackolin potato]

I'm not new though,
I'm just looking at the first guide to f1 2021

[A.Jackolin potato]

Noice