Of course I don't actually know how it was made, but it really feels like they took a long hard look at the Motorsport Manager/F1 Manager franchise that has been the only (increasingly stale) game in the space for many years, and then very carefully and deliberately stripped away mechanics and systems until they were left with almost all of the fun parts and almost none of the tedious or frustrating parts. They even replaced the minigame everyone hated with a different minigame that is both simpler and more satisfying.
I was absolutely correct about Lando losing the lead by turn 3 BUT I guess I under-estimated the pace of the McLaren. I'm not mad about it!
I was also wrong about how boring the race would be, it was only moderately boring. Fingers crossed for a banger at Monza.