F1 2020 is definitely the most comprehensive F1 game yet. By introducing the My Team mode to the series, it gives this racing game a different personality. However, there are still many players complaining that F1 2020 keeps crashing on their PC. If you’re running into the same issue, don’t worry. You should be able to fix it on your own easily!

Try these fixes

Although the causes of this issue vary from player to player, here we’ve gathered the latest fixes for the crashing issue. Whether F1 2020 crashes on startup or crashes in the middle of the game, you can find a fix to try in this article.

  1. Verify the integrity of game files
  2. Update your graphics driver
  3. Install the latest game patch
  4. Disable the Steam Overlay
  5. Add the game as an exception to your 3rd party antivirus software
  6. Close other demanding apps running in the background
  7. Lower graphics seetings
  8. Run F1 2020 on DirectX 11

Fix 1: Verify the integrity of game files

Corrupted game files may lead to the game crashing issue. If it’s the case, you need to verify the game files and repair the game. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Launch Steam and navigate to the LIBRARY tab, then right-click on F1 2020 and select Properties.
    Steam game F1 2020 properties
  2. Click LOCAL FILES on the left, then click Verify integrity of game files…. It may take some time to finish verifying the game files.
    F1 2020 verify the integrity of game files

Launch F1 2020 after the verifying process completed to see if this fix works. If not, try the next fix, below.

Fix 2: Update your graphics driver

F1 2020 may crash if the graphics driver on your PC is outdated or corrupted. If you haven’t updated your graphics driver for a long time, you should update the graphics driver.

There are mainly two methods for you to update the graphics driver:

Manually – To update your graphics driver to the latest version, you’ll need to visit the manufacturer’s website, download the exact driver, and then install it manually.

Automatically – If you don’t have the time, patience or computer skills to update your drivers manually, you can, instead, do it automatically with Driver Easy.

Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for your graphics card, and your Windows version, and it will download and install them correctly:

  1. Download and install Driver Easy.
  2. Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.
    Scan now
  3. Click the Update button next to the flagged graphics driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).
    update graphics driver using Driver Easy
    Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)
  4. Once the driver is updated, reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.
The Pro version of Driver Easy comes with full technical support. If you need assistance, please contact Driver Easy’s support team at support@drivereasy.com.

Fix 3: Install the latest game patch

The developers of F1 2020 release regular game patches to fix bugs and improve gaming performance. It’s possible that a recent patch has caused the game crash issue, and that a new patch is required to fix it.

If a patch is available, it will be detected by Steam, and the latest game patch will be automatically downloaded and installed when you launch the game.

Run F1 2020 again to see if the game crahes. If it didn’t work, or there was no new game patch available, move on to next fix, below.

Fix 4: Disable the Steam Overlay

If you have the Steam Overlay turned on and F1 2020 keeps crashing, just try disabling the Steam Overlay for F1 2020. Here is how to do it:

  1. Launch Steam and navigate to the LIBRARY tabRight-click on F1 2020. Then select Properties.
    Steam game F1 2020 properties
  2. In the GENERAL section, Uncheck Enable Steam Overlay while in-game.
    Disable the Steam Overlay F1 2020

Run F1 2020 to see if the game crashes. If the issue persists, try the next fix, below.

Fix 5: Add the game as an exception to your 3rd party antivirus software

If you have 3rd party antivirus software installed on your computer, make sure it doesn’t block the game files.

You can try adding both the game folder and the Steam client as an exception to your third-party antivirus application. If necessary, you can also try temporarily disabling your 3rd party antivirus software before you play the game.

See if F1 2020 crashes after you added it as an exception to your antivirus software. If the game still crashes, try the next fix, below.

Fix 6: Close other demanding apps running in the background

If there are too many applications or programs running at the same time, and if your PC is not powerful enough, F1 2020 may crash in the middle of the race. So try restricting applications and downloads in the background before playing the game to see if this issue reappears. Here is how to do it:

  1. On your keyboard, press CtrlShift and Esc at the same time to open Task Manager. You will be prompted for permission. Click Yes to open Task Manager.
  2. Select any other applications and programs that take up a large amount of CPU, memory and network and then click End task to close it.
    Restrict applications and downloads in the background

Launch F1 2020 again to see if this fix works. if not, try the next fix, below.

Fix 7: Lower graphics seetings

By default, F1 2020 will automatically select the in-game graphics settings that suits your hardware. However, if your PC is not powerful enough to play the game with high graphics settings, just try lowering the in-game graphics settings.

If the game still crashes after you used a lower in-game graphics profile, you may need to optimize your graphics card settings. For Nividia graphics card users, follow the steps below:

  1. Open Nvidia Control Panel.
  2. Go to Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings, then select F1 2020 from the list.
  3. Make the following changes:

    Image Sharpening – Off
    Low Latency Mode – Off
    Power Management – Prefer Maximum Performance
    Texture filtering – Quality – Performance
    Threaded Optimization – On
  4. Apply these changes and run F1 2020 again.

See if the game crashes again. If the game crashing issue persists, try the next fix to run F1 2020 on DirectX 11.

Fix 8: Run F1 2020 on DirectX 11

According to the feedback from other players, the game works fine on DirectX 11. If none of the fixes above fixed the F1 2020 crashing issue for you, try running F1 2020 on DirectX 11. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Launch Steam and navigate to the LIBRARY tabright-click on F1 2020. Then select Properties.
  2. In GENERAL section, type -force-d3d11 into the text box under LAUNCH OPTIONS. This will force steam to launch F1 2020 on DirectX 11.
    Run F1 2020 on DirectX 11

See if the game crashes. Normally, the game won’t crash on DirectX 11.


Hopefully, this article helped you fix the game crashing issue in F1 2020. If you have any questions or suggestions on this issue, you’re more than welcome to leave us a comment below. Thanks for reading!

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