Nice, you are already in a better position than I was by starting the first Asia Pacific Series season with 5-star sponsors. Once you get your car to a competitive level, the sponsor bonuses become guarantees and you will be making big money.
I spent the next two Asia Pacific Series seasons improving my car until it became the best on the grid. I found a paydriver with 1.5 stars, so I made him the reserve driver. He came really cheap at 56k per race and as long as he runs practice sessions, he pays out 500k. His feedback stat is terrible, but I don't think that's an important stat anyways. Because of him and my star driver Sylvander meeting the bonus goals, I was able to build up my HQ to have level 1 parts buildings. I won the team championship in the 3rd year and because there were very high merit payments, I recieved 39 million.
I decided to make the jump into the top tier WMC. Even with my HQ construction, I had the 2nd worst HQ in the championship. Funnily enough, the not-Williams team had the worst HQ. I built a chassis with 4-star tire wear, 3-star tire heating, 3-star fuel efficiency and thanks to a 1 million dollar dilemma, 5-star improvability. I was also pleasantly surprised you could slightly manipulate what the car looks like. I ended up with a car with a wide rear wing, medium sized sharkfin and a low nose. I kept my race mechanics, and hired a new 4.5 star lead designer who was only 39 years old. It cost me a substantial increase in cost per race but she was a free agent and I didn't want any of the other teams to scoop her up. I also let go of my paydriver Jonsdottir and replaced her with another paydriver who was more skilled and had a marketability of 100. I had to pay more so again, I have an increased cost per race. Preseason testing went well enough, 9th and 13th. I set a goal of 8th place in the championship because I wanted the bigger budget and I believe my driver lineup would make that happen.
This was my analysis of the current state of the WMC:
Not-Hamilton and not-Vettel had retired by the time I got to top tier, leaving Zoe Sharp as the only remaining full 5-star driver.
Not-Mercedes has the best car and the reigning 4.5-star champion as their number 1. However, he has already peaked and at 35 years old he is losing some of his driving stats. Their second driver is a 30 year-old paydriver who has already peaked at 4-stars. The reserve only has 3.75 star potential. They will probably get carried to another team championship by their number 1.
The Scuderia and not-Red Bull have good cars but mediocre drivers. The Kitano factory team have the best HQ by a large margin and the best driver Zoe Sharp, but are held back by a middling car. Not-Williams have the worst HQ but an above average car and they signed not-Verstappen. Not-Toro Rosso and not-Mclaren have below average cars but decent drivers, not-Bottas being with not-Mclaren.
Thorton have mediocre drivers and a bad car. As for not-Sauber, the less said about them, the better.
I could easily beat Thorton and not-Sauber for 8th in the team championship, I just hope I can make money again since my cost per race balloned to 1.9 million. I have 29 million to play with so I should be able to make it last the season. Hopefully with access to 5-star sponsors, I'll get some extra money. I eventually want to hire not-Verstappen or Chiaki Hashimoto, they are both 4.5-stars and aged 24 with potential to reach 5-stars. But I know they'll cost 1.5+ million per race so I'll have to find a way to cut costs or increase profits.
