Sidepodcast

Homepage is Where the Heart Is - The Drivers Part 1

In the midst of 2008, we took it upon ourselves to review F1 driver and team websites, searching for pages that reach out to fans, and that allow us closer inside the F1 paddock. Now almost two years on, the grid has changed significantly, as have many of the sites themselves, so we thought it was time to update our reviews.

As we go through the list, I will be approaching the sites from the point of view of a fan, looking for personality and style from our drivers. Mr C will take a more geeky approach, looking at the technical side of the various sites.

Of note, this year we've added a new metric to our reviewing process and all homepages are now tested for loading speed. We're using Safari on Snow Leopard and each page is refreshed five times with a mean average taken. All browser caching is disabled. Also new for this year, pages were tested on an iPod Touch and an Android mobile phone.

We'll be racing through the sites six at a time, in 2010 entry list order, so let us begin with the reigning world champion.

Jenson Button

Christine: Jenson's website hasn't changed enormously from two years ago - the navigation is in the same place, and the font is identical. The website was good back then, though, so it didn't need to go a huge step to improve. Jenson was one of the first F1 drivers to offer up videos from his time on the road, and he allowed lots of insight during the terrible Honda/Brawn winter crossover. Some of the flash elements are a little bit annoying but the content makes up for that. There's plenty of news and media to consume, and JB allows fans to upload their own photographs to share with others. We also know that Jenson likes to hold the occasional competition, designing his helmet for example, and that is a big plus as well.

Mr. C: The first site we look at and we're hit by the Flash problem. Jenson's site has been built using Adobe Flash, and that means neither the Touch nor the mobile are able to browse this site. Using a desktop browser, things remain larger similar to the way they were 18 months ago. Amazingly, nothing on the site yells "World Champion". There's no sign of his trophy, no mention of the WDC title anywhere in fact. The news section sadly appears to copy text from team press releases, but I do like the content contained with the "trackside" section.

The tracking statistics that adorn the right hand side of the page appeal to me. I like that it tells you the most popular day for traffic, and it's nice to know you're not alone when browsing the site. The biggest issue I have though is the mammoth load time, I just don't have the patience to wait around.

Site: http://jensonbutton.com/
Load time: 5.02 seconds
Fan rating: 7 out of 10
Geek rating: 4 out of 10

Lewis Hamilton

Christine: When it first loads, there is something that smacks of an intro, which I don't really like but it doesn't last very long. The black and red looks nice, and although white text on black isn't my favourite, this isn't too garish. This is a brand new concept for the Hamilton site, compared to it's looks back in 2008, but I don't know that much has changed in terms of its direction. There is the requisite news and video sections, but none of it seems particularly personal. The video thank you messages are very staged, and quite corporate, but so far Lewis has made a career out of that, so it's not out of character.

I do like the timeline section, although I didn't find it extremely easy to navigate.

Mr. C: I like Lewis' redesign. The colour and layout work for me and I only wish he'd taken the central "LH" button further - every driver needs a logo and that's a great one. Most of the site works using a mobile phone, although a few warning messages written in blood red text make you think something really bad will happen if you don't find that Flash plugin in a hurry.

The site renders fast, and the navigation is straightforward. Of concern is just how much of the place is geared towards generating income. It seems no matter which direction you head in, there's the continual encouragement to part with your cash. From the £20 fan club membership right up the £15,000 replica helmet complete with a Steinmetz diamond encrusted #1. Essentially the site begins to feel like an extension of the McLaren e-shop rather than a place to get to know Lewis.

Site: http://www.lewishamilton.com/
Load time: 2.95 seconds
Fan rating: 5 out of 10
Geek rating: 6 out of 10

Michael Schumacher

Christine: Back in 2008, there didn't seem much chance of Schumacher returning to the grid any time soon, but here he is and thus we have a website to review. The initial homepage is very, very simple. A photo of Michael, a signature, and some quick links to the latest news. It's not exciting, but at least it is clean and easy to use. After some further investigation, the navigation is good, there's plenty to read, and some excellent pictures as well. I like the season reviews, but there isn't much in the way of interaction with fans. Although, there are a couple of postcards to download if you are thus inclined.

Mr. C: There are very few things I hate in life more than sites that don't make proper use of screen real estate. I understand it's difficult to make content scale both vertically and horizontally at the same time, but there is never a need to do what Michael Schumacher's site does, and that is to try and squeeze everything into the smallest box available. It looks positively lost on my screen.

Credit does have to go to Schumacher though, not only for providing a multilingual site, but for providing one that works on every browser and handset I could throw at it. The only tricky moments relate to two finger scrolling inside the small boxes when using the Touch. Michael also has the fastest site we've come across so far, almost four whole seconds faster than Jenson Button's.

I do like that there's a section for Schumacher's biking adventures, and the wealth of other information shows just how many activities the man gets involved in outside of F1.

Site: http://www.michaelschumacher.de/
Load time: 1.13 seconds
Fan rating: 6 out of 10
Geek rating: 4 out of 10

Nico Rosberg

Christine: Of all the sites, Nico's is one of those that has changed the most. The last time we checked in on his page, there was some moody photographs, along with a message that Nico wasn't just a racing driver. It almost looked like he wanted to be a movie star as well. Now it seems as though the Mercedes driver has accepted his position, and although still a classy black, white and beige, the site is about being in F1. The "other side" of Nico has been relegated to at least one mouse click away.

On the main site, the font is a bit chunky and off putting, but there are links to Twitter and Facebook in easy reach. There isn't much to read other than news, but some of the items do link off to YouTube videos and items on his team site as well.

Mr. C: Here we have a site that has presumably recently undergone a redesign. Nico's homepage is chock full of social networking links and even includes direct Facebook integration, with fan images appearing on the homepage. It isn't the prettiest site in the world, but here content is king and Rosberg's "web team" provide regular, albeit brief, updates on his early season news.

The site ultimately feels unfinished. I can't for example work out what on earth the "likes" text on every post relates to, everything is equally liked in Nico's world I guess.

Additionally, the inclusion of the previous site although hidden away and rebranded as 'the other side of Nico' suggests someone isn't quite ready to accept the loss of one's concept site. The new pages do at least work on the move, even if they do take an age to load.

Site: http://www.nicorosberg.com/
Load time: 4.33 seconds
Fan rating: 4 out of 10
Geek rating: 6 out of 10

Sebastian Vettel

Christine: It bugs me that the site defaults to the news section, which is fine, except that is the second option on the navigation bar at the top. It feels like you've totally missed out on the About Me page, which is worth looking at. I did enjoy browsing through the photos of a baby Vettel in his kart. Particularly the one where he looks about the cry. Erm, what else is on there? The fan area says it is currently being updated, but there is a shop and archives to poke around in as well. My only real complaint is that if you select English as your language but accidentally click on the wrong thing, you get taken straight back to the German site. Not a major problem, but slightly annoying.

Mr. C: Seb is another driver with a logo, and I can't help but think Ayrton Senna's estate might be asking for their branding back soon. I do like the layout of pages, although you get the impression the big, bold images have been designed to hide a lack of content. A few of the links didn't work at all for me, so I've no idea what impressions Vettel had of Bahrain. More strange was the propensity of the image gallery to throw numeric alerts in my direction as if revealing some sort of code.

The site overall feels like a work in progress and no matter how hard or how often I click the "shop" link, nothing happens. On the mobile front, almost everything bar the homepage animation works as it should. At least Vettel is providing original content on his site and in multiple languages - it'll be worth keeping an eye on this one as the season develops.

Site: http://www.sebastianvettel.de
Load time: 1.92 seconds
Fan rating: 4 out of 10
Geek rating: 4 out of 10

Mark Webber

Christine: MarkWebber.com has just recently undergone a redesign, and I'm relatively impressed with the results. The previous incarnation had plenty of content but was a little bit messy. Now we have a much cleaner site to contend with. The Australian has debuted a YouTube channel and has recently joined Twitter, so they both feature prominently on the homepage. I like that he has separated out on and off track news, for those that are only interested in one or the other. There aren't an enormous amount of photos to look through, and the Mark Webber Challenge is only allowed a paragraph or two. I do really like the logo though.

Mr. C: Within the first 30 seconds of using this site, I felt right at home. The layout is very straightforward and there's no sense of clutter amongst the content. A video featuring Mark in his living room, presumably filmed by his other half, adds to the homeliness of the site and instantly it's my favourite driver site thus far.

Delving deeper reveals yet more treats. Each news post allows comments, which, although not a first for an F1 driver (Nick Heidfeld offered something similar last year), is a rare occurrence and something to be encouraged in today's ever more social age.

Beyond that Mark is rating each race as the season progresses. He's given Bahrain 3 out of 5 for on track challenge and 2 out of 5 for off track entertainment. I love this idea and I'll be checking back regularly to see how the man views the 2010 season. The last thing to mention is Webber has news stories dating back to March 2008, it's wonderful that he hasn't trashed history with every redesign and I intend to go and dig through the archives at the first opportunity.

I love Mark's site to bits. It's my favourite of the day and I'm so glad we got there because things were looking predicable on the driver's front up until now. Everything on the site works well when using the iPod or the Android and even the videos play as expected. The only thing I can knock it for, is the slow initial loading speed, presumably because the server is hosted in Australia.

Site: http://www.markwebber.com/
Load time: 4.91 seconds
Fan rating: 9 out of 10
Geek rating: 9 out of 10

Those are our first six reviews, we've got plenty more to come in this series. For now, though, why not tell us what you make of the driver websites we've covered so far? Who's doing the right thing and who is heading in the wrong direction?

Daily: 17th March 2010

It's Wednesday and that means we are about halfway through the week already. I had to break open the F1 Happy Place yesterday, but the good news is that it mostly worked, and I do feel a bit happier about F1. It's still rubbish, but at least there are good times to remember! Anyway, here are some other things we're talking about:

• I missed this when it was posted, because it was hectic busy at Sidepodcast Towers, but I love this idea from RG, comparing the new teams in a championship all of their very own. The premise is simple - the drivers in the new teams get points based on the order they finish, no matter where they are in the overall result itself. Interesting idea and I'm curious to see what will happen at the next race.
• I don't quite understand why Button is having to defend himself already. Fair enough, Lewis got on the podium but it wasn't exactly looking likely to begin with and the word lucky springs to mind. If his confidence was seriously dented after just one race, then he would be in for a really long season.
• Bernie Ecclestone has jumped to the defense of F1, saying we shouldn't jump to conclusions, submit to knee-jerk reactions, and make any rash changes. He thinks that teams will get the hang of racing under these new regulations and maybe just some tweaks to the tyre rules would help. Ahh, all about the tyres as per usual!
• Also, just a quick note: Sofa F1 Championship 2010 - Round 1. This is not a good start for me. Well done to Alison though!

It's St Patrick's Day today, and I believe there is meant to be a Sidepodmeetup in our capital city today, although I don't know if it's still on. Sadly, we can't be there, but we will be in the comments, as always.

F1 Debrief - Thick Green and Yellow

• Length: 39:15 
• Size: 36.1 MB 
• File: debrief135.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: debrief135.torrent 

Coming up this week, we discuss tyres, skipping races, Ferrari moaning, Doctor Who, green paint, plus a special Tremayne.

Intro

Everyone in the whole world is counting down to the season now, so it must almost be here.

Good Week / Bad Week

It's been a good week for Michelin as they're contemplating coming back into F1, although we can't figure out why. Also for Ferrari as Alonso really rates their car. It's been a bad week for race fans as the Abu Dhabi race is still safe, and for Alvaro Parente who is out of a reserve driver role.

News and Views

We consider the future of US F1 and Campos. US F1 don't seem to be struggling something chronic, and I'm not happy about their desire to miss four races. If they miss four then I want to as well! Campos, though, have found a way forward at least, but it seems as though they won't be the Campos we know and, erm, love.

Testing was mixed weather, starting out rough much to Ferrari's disgust. It improved towards the end of the week though, so we evaluate who was fast, who was slow, who James Allen rates, and the Lotus/Virgin battle.

Feedback

A quick hi to a Twitter user, plus an update on the McLaren hoody contest. We get a voicemail from Dan and an email from Tom regarding the green paint situation. Zach says we are mostly fun, whilst Lewis has a major Tremayne about Twitter and liveries. Adie has launched an online magazine, Peter wasn't keen on the CSI New York episode with added motorsport references, and Mike updates on his coverage in Canada. Finally in website feedback, Darryl is impressed, whilst Dr J wants a little tweak to the breakout threads.

Housekeeping

No real housekeeping except to say there's no show next week, because of Joe's meetup on Friday, plus the real important testing over the weekend. When we return in two week's time, it's the last show before the season begins.

Outtakes

Linkage

• Racing Eagles
• Heikki Kovalainen on Twitter
• Sidepodcast: A Sunny Saturday Afternoon in Jerez
• McLaren Fan Blog: McLaren Hoody Voting Round 2
• F1 Tailpipe: Introducing The F1 Weekender
• Autosport Digital
• WRC Video as recommended by Piotr
• Sidepodcast: In Search of the Iceman

Daily: 23rd January 2010

It's Saturday, and that means the weekend is officially here! Woohoo! As ever, we're going to be around during the weekend, fiddling with bits and pieces on the site and gradually making Sidepodcast a better place to be. Starting with:

• Mr C has been busy at the coding grindstone and has put the awesome comment filter box on every single page. So, if you are using Ye Olde Comments, you can now filter those as you would be able to on the LCLT or the Doohickey. If this means nothing to you, we'll probably be explaining in more detail soon, but why not test it out and let us know how it goes?
• We created another breakout thread yesterday with the news that Jaime Alguersuari has finally been confirmed at Toro Rosso. It seemed like an obvious signing, and everyone involved seem to think that he was all set for the drive, so we're not sure why the delay occurred. Either way, we are now down to just four unclaimed seats for the upcoming season.
• Massa finished up his return to the F1 cockpit, albeit an F2008 with GP2 tyres on. He took over the reigns from Valentino Rossi at Barcelona, and said he feels 100% fit and isn't worried about returning to the grid at all. Yay for the return of Massa!

That should do it for now. Let us know how your weekend is going and what you're up to, and I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 21st January 2010

It's Thursday once again. So far this year, I haven't found Thursdays too bad, but I can only imagine the bad vibe is waiting round the corner for me. To battle it, it turns out it is National Hug Day today. I'm not that good at hugging, but make sure you celebrate the day for me, and give someone a big ol' hug. Anyway, on to F1 things:

• There's been a nice comment over on F1 Minute, from Mike of Sweet F1. I am already married, of course, and I am also slightly concerned about the word "us" used in the proposal, however, I can certainly manage a link or two. It looks like the site is on hiatus at the moment during the off season, but it will be racing time once again before you know it.
• Whilst we're linking to things, the Forza Toro Rosso blog has an interesting post about the team's decision to sack Bourdais, pondering whether they were right to do such a thing. The post is generating quite the discussion, and I just know we all have opinions on the subject as well. Add yours!
• Finally, RG wrote a pretty awesome guest post for us yesterday, taking a closer look at how easy it is to make up news on the internet. Although an ultimately harmless experiment, RG's made up headline actually got passed on as fact, so it's definitely worth reading how that turned out.

That's all for now, let us know what you're up to today, and how the weather is where you are, and I will see you in the comments.

Pity the F1 Fool

A constant discussion within the Sidepodcommunity is the validity of news, and how best to check sources. Here, RG shows how easy it is to make a mistake, even if it is a deliberate one.

Twitter can highlight both the best and the worst of F1 on the internet.

I could fool you. I could fool the whole world if I wanted to. It would only take a little bit of effort and time, and possibly a bit of luck, to do it. The funny thing would be that hardly anyone would question it; they would believe every single word that had been written down in front of them.

In 2009, Twitter took off big time. It does indeed feel like the majority of the world is on it. There are, admittedly, some very good uses for using the service, especially if you are a fan of Formula 1 (which I suspect you are, considering you are on this site). Follow the right people, and you are given the latest information within seconds of it being released to the media. Instead of having to wait for an article to appear on Autosport, it is out on Twitter and can be discussed even before the first update on that page is out on the internet.

But that is only if you manage to follow the right people.

Peter Sauber. In my own mind a simple legend, of course, I am totally biased. He is, of course, the owner of the returning Sauber team. Now, I don’t wish any offence onto the great man, but can you really see him being the type who uses Twitter? No, I can’t see it either. Perhaps his son, Alex Sauber might be the type (now in charge of the team’s marketing activites).

So I do indeed wonder why a certain Formula 1 “news” agency opted to pick up on the fact that Peter Sauber, on an unverified twitter account, said the following:

“second driver to be announced next week. The team is ready to work. happy new year.”

This was posted on the 30th December 2009. Sauber has only just confirmed Pedro de la Rosa this week.

Amazingly, when a certain “news” company picked it up, it spread round the internet quicker than Usain Bolt down 100m. It didn’t take long for a reliable account, in the form of Jonathan Noble, of Autosport, to make a quick check with the real Peter Sauber, to prove it was a simple fake account.

To fool the world, though. It does sound like a bit of a challenge, doesn’t it? You would think it may require me to be on the television. Or indeed, turn into a taxi driver and spot Cristiano Ronaldo walking out of White Hart Lane (fans of the BBC live text of transfer deadline day will know what I am talking about).

In fact, all it needs is a half decent connection to the internet, a Twitter account and the ability to use hashtags. When Tom G suggested in the comments that we should lead a certain “news” company up the garden path, the following tweet, on my own Twitter account, followed:

“I've heard from some sources that Campos Meta will announce Vitaly Petrov as their new driver. Bringing in 7million euros to the team #f1”

I can confirm that I have no sources inside the F1 paddock. I will also happily say that seven million Euros was plucked from the air. I don’t know however if Vitaly Petrov will go to Campos Meta 1 or not. That will have to be seen in the future. What I love about my rumour, is that it is perfectly possible, but the way to spread a good rumour is the use of a hashtag. Some F1 fans that use Twitter do indeed follow the #f1 hashtag to possibly catch up on the news.

Originally, I was disappointed at the end of the Sunday evening, that only five non-Sidepodcast people had retweeted that message. I was indeed sure that more had read it. I’ll take this time to apologise to the people who believed that message, yes, I did lead you all up a one way street. Block me if you like.

I did think all was lost, but that was until Tom (once again) came across a link on a Spanish speaking website. Although the use of Google Translator was required, it did appear that the main structure of my tweet was involved. Seven million Euros is indeed mentioned, with a company called Megafon, which is a Russian mobile phone operator.

Easy. Too easy. I could do it again if I wanted to as well, I bet some people won’t read this article properly, so won’t realise that when I say:

Ralf Schumacher is going to USF1.

That I am totally lying. It won’t happen but a select bunch of people don’t read the whole story. That is the important thing, the whole story.

My tweet could have easily been caught out; it was on my own account, in the middle of me discussing the West Ham v Arsenal game on at that time. Odd timing for a breaking news story. I have clearly no previous history of correctly breaking Formula 1 stories and I never backed it up with anything.

Check the sources, how important is that. I’m stating the obvious but probably 90% of Formula 1 fans on the internet don’t know about the best and worst places. Sidepodcast sorted that out a year ago, a page which is still relevant today. Sadly, the “news” sources which produce the most incorrect stories still seem to end up everywhere I go. Be it something like the BBC Sport website, a forum or even in general chat with friends. (When football isn’t the main discussion)

So if you are reading an article with a three letter abbreviation or a certain German newspaper near it, it is more than likely to be incorrect. If you see something on Twitter, not by an inside source, or a journalist, again, it is likely to be incorrect.

The internet. Used by bunch of liars. Me included.

F1 Debrief - What's Not to Like?

• Length: 58:26 
• Size: 53.6 MB 
• File: debrief130.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: debrief130.torrent 

Coming up on this week's show, we discuss Flavio Briatore, US F1, testing, rankings, tyres, pit stops and shortcuts.

Intro

Welcome to 2010! Is that two thousand and ten, or twenty ten?

Good Week / Bad Week

Good times for Jenson Button and Ross Brawn as they are honoured by the Queen, and for Toyota as they are eyed up by Zoran Stefanovich. Bad times for safety as Abu Dhabi aren't changing very much at all, and for headline grabbing news items that don't really tell us much at all.

News and Views

There's a lot of news to cover this week, as we get started with Flavio Briatore's overturned ban, and Renault's team principal replacement - Eric Boullier, Mr C's new best friend!

Meanwhile, Mercedes have a new sponsor, and a new driver who is already up to tricks by testing out a GP2 car. The new teams are trying to prove Bernie's doubts wrong, and Peter Windsor is stirring up a hornet's nest with his thoughts on the summer shutdown, whilst US F1 are simultaneously getting extra tests.

Mr C manages to get through the segment about the Castrol Driver Rankings without swearing - a first, and we discuss Ted's thoughts on the strategies for 2010, and Bernie's ideas for taking a shortcut.

Feedback

Four excellent messages - one putting us straight about CFD, one happy to hear the history from Steven, one worried about the sheer number of comments appearing on the site, and the final one concerned about a seatless Heidfeld.

Housekeeping

We tried out some F1 Minute video, and the experiment is mostly halted but slightly ongoing at the same time. Our first 2010 show wasn't live but the server will be back bigger and better - or so says Mr C.

Linkage

• Castrol Driver Rankings
• Manipe F1: Comparing Penguins and Light Bulbs
• Making Up the Numbers: Castrol Driver Rankings
• Steven Roy's guest posts
• Most Prolific Contributors
• Breakout Threads
• F1 Minute Video
• The Future of F1 Minute Video

Daily: 11th January 2010

How can it possibly be Monday again? Not only is it Monday, but it is a double driver birthday, with both Nakajima and Sutil celebrating the anniversary of their births. Kazuki turned 25, whilst Sutil hits 27 - hurtling towards 30, but don't tell him that! Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Apparently, the organisers at Bahrain are hoping they might regain some of the F1 testing that they have lost to Europe. They appear to be hoping for bad weather conditions in Spain to give them a shot at hosting the teams as they evaluate their new cars. Have they forgotten the last test session they hosted though? Talk about bad weather!
• Over on VivaF1, Maverick has a post about what he's expecting from the cars this year, in terms of aerodynamics and sneaky diffuser designs. It's an interesting post, but all I can think is the cars can't possibly be as ugly as they were this year... can they?
• The official F1 site are running a multi-part series of posts, reviewing the season through the news that was breaking during each month. They've just posted July to September, which was a particularly difficult time of the season for pretty much everyone, I reckon. Still, it's a good way to review the season, with one more part still to come.

That's all for now, let us know how your Monday goes, and as ever, I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 26th December 2009

Boxing Day traditionally means recovering from the day before and eating all that leftover turkey. It will be turkey sandwiches and turkey curry for everyone for weeks, I'm sure. We were right about the F1 news, though, there was very little. Here's what we're talking about:

• Autosport have an interesting article about ten things that didn't happen this year. I'm assuming they mean things that we believed would happen, otherwise that would be a pretty hard list to narrow down! Some of the things could still happen, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled.
• Poor Donington Park didn't get the Christmas present they were looking for as they couldn't find a buyer for the lease, and therefore the future is looking pretty bleak. We've discussed the Donington thing in great detail before, but it's sad times.
• There was a special festive edition of F1 Minute yesterday with a couple of statistics, some facts and figures, and a special thank you to all who have listened this year. The Minute is on a break until the new year now, so there had better not be any massive breaking news.

That'll do it for now, hope everyone is enjoying the holidays, and we will see you in the comments.

Daily: 25th December 2009

Merry Sidepodchristmas

Hello and Merry Christmas! It's the 25th December, and I think we are safe now, there should be no F1 news today. Instead, it's all about chocolate, mince pies, and tracking Santa. Still, there are a couple of things we've noticed on our travels around the web, and we'd like to share them with you:

• Lukeh made a rather good Christmas postcard for everyone who frequents Sidepodcast. Good ol' Rubens makes an appearance, and we would like to wish happy holidays along with Mr Barrichello.
• RG has written some festive greetings from both himself and on behalf of Timo Glock. There is some photoshopping going on over there, but the writing is much more important - he's got some good plans for next year, so I'll be staying subscribed. I hope you will too.
• SLVAaron is making some Red Bull muffins for Christmas, and it seems as though he is using the Sidepodradio instructions to help him along the way. I hope he's not taking tips from Mr C.
• It is the last day of Giggles Advent and it's bound to be a good video from Alex. While you're there, relive the entire 25 days, because they're all fabulous.

That's all for now. It's probably a busy day all round, but we'll be about so if you want to let us know what you're up to, if you're eating turkey, or what presents you have received, we're all ears.