Levels of difficulty:

As introduced in the season 2011, this year are the 3 different levels of difficulty Amateur, Pro and Expert available for the contenders of PFF1. It's up to each player, how much time he wants to spend to manage the teams. Amateurs, Pros and Experts take part in one competition.

Prior to race 1 the level of difficulty can be altered unlimited (KERS must be sold, if necessary). After the first race, 5 changes are possible, after race 10 the level of difficulty cannot be altered anymore. 

Amateur:

An Amateur plays less time-consuming because of the support of assistants and a simple game play.

- Assistant Create a new team: A complete team is suggested after the input of a team manager and a driver.

- Assistant Improve team: With one click on the button a suggestion for a team improvement is generated.

- Qualifying positions and a fastest race lap time are suggested automatically.

- The game play is more simple: The team component Secrecy is not available, only 3 team changes per race are possible (no minus points), Constructors World Championship: The first 3 created teams take part, a team selection is not possible.

Remark: The player has to take care of the components tyres and driver 3. These components won't be considered by the Improve team assistant.

Pro:

This level of difficulty equates to the challenging game play of the PFF1 season 2011.

- Guess fastest Race Lap Time: With a click on the GURU Button a guess is suggested by the system.

Expert:

The level of difficulty Expert is just for the absolute Formula 1 fan. No assistants are available and the game play is challenging and very time-consuming. The special feature KERS is only available for Experts.

Remark: KERS is not a decisive factor to win the PFF1 World Championship. In a season 30 bonus points at most can be generated by KERS with an investment of 3 Mio. By guessing the Qualifying positions and the fastest race lap time correctly, theoretically 400 bonus points would be possible in a season (good players get more than 100 bonus points)!  

KERS (only for Experts):

To use KERS, you have to invest 1 Mio. at first. KERS will be delivered with a charge of 50%. You are able to recharge KERS twice with 50% by investing 1 Mio. in each case. The maximum value of the KERS feature is 3 Mio. 10% charge is equal to 1 point. With a 100% charged KERS you are able to generate 10 bonus points at most.

To generate bonus points you have to choose the option 'KERS discharge' on the team edit page. The number of bonus points depend on the selected percentage.

It is possible to recharge KERS, without spending money. You have to choose the option 'KERS recharge in the race' on the team edit page. Thereby the points are transferred from the race score into the KERS buffer:

-1 point of the race score: +20% charge of KERS

-2 points of the race score: +30% charge of KERS

-3 points of the race score: +40% charge of KERS

...

-9 points of the race score: +100% charge of KERS

With KERS it is possible to transfer points from one race to another. The KERS feature is not necessary to win the PFF1 World Championship. But it could be an interesting tactical instrument within race series or in the PFF1 Cup competition.

As long as the database is not closed, the other contender just see if KERS is discharged or recharged in the race, but not how many points are be transferred. An activated Secrecy feature hides KERS completely.

The KERS points (minus or bonus points) are not used for the score calculation in the PFF1 Constructors World Championship.

PFF1 Cup 2012:

The best 144 teams after race 3 are qualified for the group stage. The teams are split up in 16 groups. 

From race 4 to 13 an all-play-all tournament (10 rounds) takes place. The ranking within the groups is according to the number of match-up victories. In groups with odd-numbered members in each round one team gets a bye. If more rounds are held, as opponents are available in the own group, the remaining match-ups will be done against opponents of another group (group 1 vs. group 2, group 3 vs. group 4, etc.).

The group leaders after race 13 are qualified for the 1/16-finals and get a free round in race 14. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the groups compete for the remaining 16 places in the Wildcard round. 

After that the PFF1 Cup Winner will be determined according to the well known K.O. system till the end of the season.
 

Important remarks:

If the Grand Prix of Bahrain will be cancelled, the group stage will be reduced to 9 rounds. The PFF1 Cup final is projected for race 19. If the Grand Prix of USA (Austin) will not take place, the PFF1 Cup won't be affected.

Tyre Assignment 2012:

Because only one Tyre supplier (Pirelli) is active in Formula 1, two groups are established. The Formula 1 Teams will be assigned alternately to one of the tyres groups according to the last Years Formula 1 Constructor Championship.

P  Pirelli 1 - Prime: Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus, Sauber, Williams, HRT

O  Pirelli 2 - Option: McLaren, Mercedes, Force India, Toro Rosso, Caterham, Marussia

In Formula 1 the Prime and Option tyre must be used at least once during a race. To revive the tyre component a little bit, the Prime and Option tyre must be chosen at least 4 times during a PFF1 season. How often a tyre component has been used in a team is displayed on the team edit and on the team statistics page (green colour: OK, red colour not OK).

If a team owner does not observe the rule, a component change will be made by the system in the last 4 races. Inactive teams will be adjusted automatically in the last 4 races after the database closing time.

Miscellaneous:

107% Rule:

The value of the components Driver 1 or 2, Chassis and Engine is decreased by 1 Mio, if they may not take part in a Formula 1 Grand Prix because of the 107% rule (unless the costs are higher than the minimum value). For the Chassis and Engine component  the rule is only applied, if both Formula 1 cars of a team don't take part in the race.

Component Secrecy:

Valid only for Pro and Expert.

Now 2 possibilities are available to hide the team components from the other PFF1 contenders.

Hide team components [-1 Mio]: After the race the team budget will be decreased by 1 Mio.
Hide team components [-10 Pts]: The race score will be decreased by 10 points. The budget won't be charged by 1 Mio. This option is designed mainly for the MVT competition. 

PFF1 Top Contenders:

An identification system for top PFF1 Contenders of past seasons has been launched to present so far successful team owners to newcomers. You are able to recognize these team owners by different letters with colored background right beside their names. When you move the mouse pointer on the symbol you'll get a detailed description as a ToolTip text.

Below are listed the existing categories:

T  PFF1 Top 25 Contender or PFF1 Top 25 Constructor of last PFF1 season

W  PFF1 World Champion

C  PFF1 Constructors World Champion

C  PFF1 Cup Winner or PFF1 Champions Racing League Winner 

P  PFF1 Professional League Winner

R  PFF1 Rookie League Winner

N  National PFF1 Champion

V  PFF1 Most valuable Team

The identification system should be an information for PFF1 contenders to recognize probably strong opponents at a glance.

PFF1 Cars: