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: 11th March 2010

Hello and welcome to horrible Thursday. However, I believe this one won't be as bad as others we have experienced recently, as we are all focused on the goings on in Bahrain. We were super busy yesterday and we're going headfirst into the weekend in a similar fashion. Meanwhile, here are some things we're talking about:

• I was catching up on some blog feeds yesterday and discovered this excellent post from RG, discussing people in Formula One, and motorsport generally, in the north of England. I liked the post, even if it does appear that RG forgot all about Rob Smedley. Humph!
• Mr C's favourite blogger ScarbsF1 has a Bahrain Preview post up which goes into a bit more detail about the McLaren rear wing issue. We're expecting the FIA to inspect the part and make a decision in Bahrain, which is leaving it a bit late if you ask me.
• We posted plenty of fab things here on Sidepodcast yesterday, including your Bahrain Race Information. This tells you important facts and figures about the race, and highlights the TV and podcast schedule. The F1 Digest Preview was posted, and Mr C had a quick look at some of the new websites from teams.
• Also, for everyone who has been curious about the Joe Saward competition - it is now closed, but we have not yet picked a winner. We will do so as soon as we can, and let you know via the blog. If there's no post, it's because we haven't got our winner yet!

That should do it for now. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that Thursday goes okay, and I will see you in the comments.

Ready to Test the Water

Suddenly today, out of nowhere, I felt like I wanted to go to the pre-season testing in Spain. It's been a while since we saw an F1 car in action, and we're not heading to Autosport this month to tide us over. So, we were discussing the upcoming testing action, and I started pondering whether we might go, if only to convince Mr C that testing isn't a waste of time. The most important thing is that it is in the immediate future. There are ongoing plans for trips to many different races this year, but they all seem so far away. Testing is just next month, so deliciously close.

Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Red Bull ready to skip first test

It's also a lot cheaper than visiting a GP. Somewhere in the realm of 30 Euros for a three day ticket, although getting there and staying there are another matter. I can't quite work out the websites for Jerez and Catalunya, though. Jerez has testing on the calendar, but no apparent place for ticketing, whilst the Barcelona circuit doesn't seem at all sure there is testing about to happen at all.

That leaves Valencia, who have a much more user friendly site, with ticket prices and everything. The problem with a potential visit to Ricardo Tomo is that there is at least one launch the night before - and we've been making plans and looking forward to covering launches from the comfort of our own desks. There's also the possibility that Red Bull are skipping the first pre-season test of the year, and I think I'd want to see all the teams if I had the chance.

None of these are big problems, of course, I just wanted to share my thought process as I navigated the various possibilities. Sidepodcast traditionally leaves everything to the last minute, so we'll not be making any decisions yet. What about you? Is testing even an interesting proposition, or would you rather save your coppers for the real thing?

This is How the Teams Do It (Part 1)

A week or so ago, we looked at how the driver's websites stacked up against each other, in four very separate posts. Now we're turning our attention on the teams, but the criteria is still the same. I'll be looking at it from a fan's point of view, assessing the content and general usability. The geeky one takes a more, well, geeky look at the sites, and then we rate them. Here goes.

Ferrari

I tried to link to the actual Ferrari Racing bit of the site, but it’s so flash-based, there’s no unique ID for that page. You have to pick your language, navigate whether you want the site or the store, then click on racing. Too much effort! Once you get that far, there’s not that much information on there anyway, but I do like the timeline through the years. A unique way of doing a biography, that includes a fascinating look at the way the cars have changed. The one problem I found is, even though I picked English, there still seems to be the odd Italian word thrown in here and there, making navigation harder, but not impossible.

I do like a website that resizes and repositions my web browser, no really, nothing makes me happier. I mean why stop there, why not rearrange my desktop while you're at it? I'm only the visitor, that's all.

Regardless of the heavy handed welcome, you would have thought that F1 was important enough to Ferrari to warrant its own site, wouldn't you? Instead you'll find your racing information buried under a sea of tiny little text links, oh and good luck finding your way around, even the English language version with its 6pt sized links contained Italian phrasing I could only guess the meaning of.

Incidentally, Ferrari have some great video interviews on YouTube, and I rather expected to find something similar here (albeit better quality), but alas if they're around anywhere I couldn't find them.

Site: http://www.ferrariworld.com
Fan Rating: 6/10
Geek Rating: 4/10

BMW

Firstly, it was impossibly slow to load. There was a competition for a trip to Malaysia, but I couldn’t wait for the site to load, so I’ll never be able to participate, let alone win. There is information about the Pit Lane Park, which is useful, and some team news, but nothing out of the ordinary to make it stand out.

Okay, I'm going to come right out and say it, in contrast to Christine, I think this is the best website I've visited in a very long time. Yes, I know it's built in Flash and I know there's no HTML version, but when a team of people put in this much effort and attention to detail, I can only sit back in awe. Seriously a thing of beauty.

To best illustrate why I like this place so much, allow me to guide you through but one section of many. Selecting 'Season 2008' from the top menu, followed by 'GP Canada' will introduce a short video clip. Watch closely as for a few brief seconds a BMW screams past not only the Casino de Montréal but also The Olympic Stadium. Clearly an F1 challenger was never in the vicinity of those two landmarks, which means somebody had to put it there by hand. I can't even speculate the amount of effort that went into creating those 3 seconds of film. Literally the car could've been anywhere on any track in the world and who would've noticed? That's my kind of attention to detail.

I will concede that all is not perfect though, and the sudden bursts of noise did ruin a particular track I was listening to at the time, and yep the site's slow, and sure the shop's a touch weird, but I forgive all sins because BMW's abode simply oozes character.

Site: http://www.bmw-sauber-f1.com/
Fan Rating: 4/10
Geek Rating: 9/10

Renault

We’ve covered the Renault site in great detail previously, how it went completely wrong once a certain someone left. However, I’ll look at it with fresh eyes. It’s split into two – fan and team, which already makes me feel alienated. The team site is your standard news, statistics and history. The fan site is slightly more interesting, with the blog and the member additions. They were almost up to 7,000 members when I looked, so they must be doing something right.

As Christine points out this is a site of two halves, but I'm going to ignore the "Fan" section due to the fact it didn't load. In truth it very rarely does, the words "scalable" and "architecture" spring to mind here.

Five seconds... count 'em. That's the entire length of time I spend on the Renault site and that was enough to tell me nothing had changed. The offensive music startled me once again, while a huge window opened and automatically commandeered my screen - I think they call that the element of surprise. No doubt it looks great on a 40" projector beamed on the wall of the teams HQ, however it simply mocks my inferior equipment.

Site: http://www.ing-renaultf1.com/en/
Fan Rating: 5/10
Geek Rating: 4/10

Williams

I really dislike the bubble thing, when I went to click on one of them, it disappeared. That’s not a great start in terms of usability. If you discount that, though, the navigation is easy with the menu along the top, and leads to some good stuff. There’s some really nice track guides, packed with information, and a fantastic animation of the 2006 car, where you can break it down to its very basic components. With detailed biographies on the key team members, including drivers, and a really good interactive tour of the factory, I could visit the Williams site over and over again. I just wish they’d get rid of the bubbles.

If Williams were as fast on track as they are on the web, we'd be crowning this year's constructors champions already. It's nice to wander around the site, the layout is uncluttered, the colour scheme is friendly and I felt drawn into digging deeper. So much information and I just wanted to read more.

No mention of the Williams site would be complete without a hat tip to the multimedia section. They're one of, if not the best in this area. Although, I could've sworn the Earth was more spherical the last time I checked. Maybe Sir Frank knows something we don't?

Site: http://www.williamsf1.com/
Fan Rating: 9/10
Geek Rating: 7/10

Red Bull

I don’t understand why, when I hover a link, the timer things go crazy. It doesn’t add anything or tell my anything, and simply makes me dizzy. There aren’t too many extras on the site, just the usual driver info, car statistics, and press releases. Red Bull have a style about them, though, that makes every piece of writing worth reading, in case it holds a hidden gem. They’re not afraid to poke fun at themselves, and everyone else, which keeps me on the site. I dislike having to click “Read More” on a news article, though, when there’s plenty of room on the page to fit it in.

At last a HTML site to rival the Flash incumbents. I actually prefer the basic version, best described as "how the web should be" given that it reinforces the team's brand whilst remaining both useful and user friendly. The over the top alternate version sadly offers little or nothing extra, except I quite liked the motion-blur-rollover-effect. Flawed though it is, given that your attention automatically moves to the thing that's supposed to be blending into the background. I saw some text to read but was far to busy fading the images in and out to pay any it attention.

One quick mention for the paddock fly-by at redbullf1.com, just because someone put a lot of work into it. It doesn't add anything to Red Bull's main site but kudos for the hours of work that went into an entirely pointless but frankly gorgeous animation. I stand up and applaud such a pretentious waste of bandwidth.

Site: http://www.redbullracing.com/
Fan Rating: 7/10
Geek Rating: 6/10

That's all for Part 1 of our team website summaries, don't forget to visit Part 2 where we look at the final five.

Sites for Sore Eyes (Part 4)

We've reached the final five websites in our mammoth task of reviewing all the drivers and their web real estate. Check out the first three parts before enjoying this last set of reviews.

Rubens Barrichello

Wow, I didn’t think websites were allowed to have scrolling information anymore. That must violate some kind of human right somewhere. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of background info on there, and a column from the man himself (at the time of writing, it was still post-Turkey). There was also some audio, although I couldn’t tell you what they were saying.

There's something very peculiar going on with the rendering of this site. Each time I navigate to a new page, there's a not-so-subtle bounce effect that happens before the layout settles down. Once or twice isn't so bad, but it becomes tiresome quickly. It's fine on Safari, but Firefox has issues.

Aside from that, I have a desire to stretch the layout and make it wider. There's too much wasted space each side of the main column. The background image is nice without ever being distracting, but the separate shop makes a poor attempt at trying to match the main site's look and feel.

Site: http://www.barrichello.com.br/
Fan Rating: 6 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Giancarlo Fisichella

Given that computer screens are getting bigger and bigger all the time, I don’t really understand why this site is so small. I can hardly read the writing. Plus, for some reason, some of the news sections open in a new window, maybe because they need more space? It does look good, but I can't stand the strobe effect and I didn’t want to spend too long on there.

Giancarlo's homepage needs an epilepsy warning, the flashing may only be brief, but it's enough to quickly become painful. Here we are looking at a site that has the worst kind of Flash integration - the bulk of the pages written in the usability-challenged format while the news page is HTML and not integrated at all. I'm a fan of minimalism, but the size of typeface used here would challenge even Superman's eyesight and what's with all the bleepy noises?

Something that's a slight worry for the Italian is the fact that the Fisico Entertainment link on the right-hand side leads to a domain parking page. Someone, might have failed to renew that one, oops.

Site: http://www.giancarlofisichella.com/
Fan Rating: 3 out of 10
Geek Rating: 2 out of 10

Adrian Sutil

The first thing I saw on this site was the Dates in May bit, which seems to lead to a calendar. I’m not entirely sure why, as unless I’m missing something, it really was just a calendar for 2008. The sponsor logos are a bit omni-present which is quite annoying, and overall there didn’t seem that much to do.

Adrian appears to have inherited the Fisi disease because rolling over the menu provides a scatter gun ensemble of electronic bleeps. I had headphones on while viewing the site, and it felt like something was burrowing into my skull.

Like Christine, I'm baffled by what the calendar is telling me (beyond what any other calendar would). I found the orange theme quite appealing, pages responded quickly and the animated transitions were, well, bearable.

It's worth noting that this site has been designed by Adrian's brother Daniel, but how much difference the family touch adds is difficult to put your finger on though. Probably not much.

Site: http://www.adriansutil.com/
Fan Rating: 5 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Lewis Hamilton

The Hamilton site looks good, although the lead story in the middle of the page is a warning for fans not to accept counterfeit autographed goods. That’s not really the most positive start for a site. It all appears to be a bit new, as the fan club is accepting “pre-registrations” and the charity page talks of the “Lewis Hamilton foundation coming soon.” But it seems to be a good base for when it does get going.

I was expecting to dislike this site, figuring that the "hand of Ron" was bound to have extended onto Lewis' personal site, but that doesn't appear to be the case at all. It's understated and simple to figure out. I was confused slightly by the inconsistency of the left side navigation, but apart from that it's perfectly usable and devoid of the corporate touch.

There is a significant lack of content however. You'll not find any circuit maps, nor photo gallery on this site, and some of the promised content simply points to a fan club registration form, while the Breaking News section points directly to McLaren's site. Work in progress is probably a fair summary.

Site: http://www.lewishamilton.com/
Fan Rating: 6 out of 10
Geek Rating: 5 out of 10

Heikki Kovalainen

I couldn’t really work out why you could have the page in either English or Russian but not Finnish, however that’s Heikki’s choice. There are two lots of navigation, one of which was a bit clunky to use between pages, and the other mostly led to pages under construction. Having said that, the content in the centre looks good and reads well, so all was not lost.

Heikki's site stands out amongst the crowd by virtue of the fact it doesn't appear to be very official. I mean, it's his name and he says he welcomes you in, but the site features Google advertisements and then says things like "our gallery" and "contact us". So who are these other people? A personal website should be just that shouldn't it? Additionally the website owner has a Hotmail address... hmmm, fishy.

Wikipedia says that this site is the official one, but it's a .net domain while the .com url points to Sutton Images. It's all very odd and I have to conclude the guy just doesn't care that much about the web. It's an okay site in terms of layout and design but "half-arsed" is the overriding impression. A disappointing end to our collection of reviews, no doubt about it.

Site: http://www.heikkikovalainen.net/
Fan Rating: 4 out of 10
Geek Rating: 2 out of 10

So that rounds up our final set of driver website reviews, and what a blast it has been. As ever we'd love to hear what you think, because we are not pretending to be the authority on this subject at all. However, we've shared our opinion and now we want to hear yours, so go check out these sites and tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Sites for Sore Eyes (Part 3)

This is part three of our driver websites review, looking at the good, the bad and the pointless. Check out the first two parts here, and here, and then we can get started with the next five. As ever, I’m approaching it from the fan viewpoint, checking on navigation and content, whilst the geeky one posts his usability and technical thoughts in italics.

Jarno Trulli

The homepage isn’t exactly pretty, but there’s nothing overtly horrible about it either. There are some good photos on the site, and the Toyota video feature is there as well. There’s also information about the kart that he has helped developed – which I knew nothing about! I do like that the background image is selected at random on each load.

Wow, that really is some awful music Jarno's playing there. The audio is doubly annoying on this site because it crushes any video you try and watch. It's easy to turn off, but who thought it was a good idea in the first place?

The rest of the site is okay, despite being flash only. The news section appears to be just a long list of Toyota press releases and there are far too many colours present on the homepage, giving the place a claustrophobic feel. The videos on the media page are unfeasibly small too, surrounded as they are by so much blank space.

Site: http://www.jarnotrulli.com/
Fan Rating: 6 out of 10
Geek Rating: 4 out of 10

Timo Glock

Now, I instantly dislike this page because it’s yellow, and yellow tends to hurt my eyes. However, I persevered for the sake of the exercise, but I didn’t really get very far. It seems like everything there is to look at is on the homepage already, so one glance and you’re done.

Timo's another driver who's opted to piggy back on a commercial site, forsaking his own domain name in the process.

This site takes forever to load and it's not just the homepage either. Clicking a link brings up an animated timer which serves no purpose other than to annoy. At the same time the page layout flips around like some sort of demonised rubik's cube, before proceeding to display the same information, only in a slightly different order.

Site: http://www.speed-academy.de/timoglock.html
Fan Rating:4 out of 10
Geek Rating: 3 out of 10

Sebastien Bourdais

The site is really simple and easy to navigate which makes a refreshing change! It’s also got plenty of pictures and info – I like the brooding one on the home page (that may just be me, though). There’s a forum that’s in French but seems to have plenty going on. Really, any site that has a heading called Goodies is fine by me.

Possibly the best welcome of any site so far. The opening video requires flash, but it's perfectly possible to get where you're going without it. I like that the branding is in keeping with Toro Rosso's livery, but isn't flamboyant or excessive in any area.

This is the cleanest looking website I've seen in a long while. Absolutely devoid of any clutter, whilst links to Google Maps of each circuit are a welcome addition. News still is lacking the personal touch though, as it's yet more press release material.

Site: http://www.sebastien-bourdais.com/
Fan Rating: 7 out of 10
Geek Rating: 7 out of 10

Sebastian Vettel

The English page is currently under construction, which is fair enough, except I couldn’t get back to the German page once I’d gone there.

Nothing says "Welcome" like a gigantic red cross and the word error painted across your screen in bold type does it? Makes you wonder why the there's a link to an English version of the site at all?

Life on Seb's site gets more confusing if you look at the German version, because the entire of the news section is written in English. The remainder of the pages are fine in terms of layout and content, but I do wonder if the central band of animated photography wouldn't have been better served as static images, and I can't shake the feeling as I'm browsing that the whole design is just waiting to be re-branded with the Red Bull logo.

Site: http://www.sebastianvettel.de/
Fan Rating: 1 out of 10
Geek Rating: 3 out of 10

Jenson Button

The site is very pretty, but to be honest, I spent a lot of time rolling over things going: "Ooh, that moves as well!" without actually looking at what was there. I think it’s one of those sites that while it has some good information underneath, the abundance of Flash makes it hard to find everything. The helmet competition is fun... oh wait, we did that already.

Your name's not on the list, you're not coming in. Jens has a flash only site and without it you're left looking at a plain white screen. Once over this obstacle though the site is well laid out and easy to navigate. I especially like the stats window that pulls out from the right-hand side. While I was watching three other users were also viewing the site, although the distance didn't appear to update in the way it suggested it should, maybe it's broken at the moment?

I get the impression Jenson actually cares about this site. The fan pictures section is a nice addition and Button has by far the best videos of any driver we've looked at so far. If you include his audio diaries, I suspect this benchmark will take some beating. I like that the Trackside section represents such a detailed look at circuits too.

If I have one criticism, it's that the convoluted transitions take far to long to execute, I was willing them to be over sooner. Not for the first time I'm torn with the rating of this site, I love what's inside, but getting there is too inaccessible.

Site: http://www.jensonbutton.com/
Fan Rating: 7 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Three quarters of the way through now. We've trawled through the highs and lows of the internet so far, and there's still plenty more to come. Join us for part four where we look at the last five driver sites.

Sites for Sore Eyes (Part 2)

This is the second part of a project that sounded quite simple when we took it on. Check out all twenty driver websites, see what they're like, review and rate them. Turns out it was a mammoth task and this is only part two. If you haven't already, visit Part 1 to read our thoughts on the first five driver sites and then prepare to be amazed by our next five. As before, I'll be writing from the perspective a fan, looking at content and information, whilst the italics will be from the geek about geeky stuff. Let's go.

Nelson Piquet

For such a confident young man, the website is actually quite understated. I do like the graphic at the top that runs through the series and the cars he has driven in, finishing with his current Renault role. There’s lots of interactivity, however, with video, audio, and even a game! You control the Renault F1 car around Interlagos, and let’s just say even Piquet could do a better job than me. But still very fun.

Take any thoughts or criticisms you may have of this site and put them to one side for a moment. Nelson offers us an F1 game to play, and if this thing doesn't have you addicted till the small hours, something is quite probably wrong with you. I can already see a mini Sidepodcast competition in the offing.

Getting back to the site, Mr. Piquet has found an acceptable balance between usable navigation and flashy little widgets. I feel I should start rating these sites on the quality of the circuit maps, every driver seems to have them and Nelson doesn't disappoint on this score either. Points must be deducted however for the annoying repeating image that sits at the top of the page. Some people might approve, but not I.

Site: http://www.nelsinhopiquet.com.br
Fan Rating: 8 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Nico Rosberg

Now, this site scares me. It says: “Begin full screen journey.” I don’t really want to go on a journey, I just want to look at some stuff about him. There is an HTML option, which I chose, and I was left very disappointed. Nico wants his site to be something different, for people to be able to see him as something other than a racing driver, and that’s fine. I respect that. But all the site actually does is show him posing with some soundbyte quotes. The photos are amazing, but not enough to sustain my attention for long.

I'm not sure I've ever described a website as 'epic' before, but Nico's surely is. I do worry about a homepage that feels it necessary to explain basic navigation before allowing you in, and thankfully a plain vanilla version is provided for the wary, but take a look inside and you're presented with a browsing experience like no other. A lot of thought has gone into this site and in terms of brand identity I'm not sure a driver has ever looked cooler, or less like a driver in fact.

The initial blank page is seriously off-putting and will be more than enough to frighten off or confuse the inexperienced. I think along the way someone confused the brief that said "design me a website" with one that said "make me a Hollywood star". Happens to me all the time.

Site: http://www.nicorosberg.com/
Fan Rating: 3 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Kazuki Nakajima

Well, it’s not the best design I’ve ever seen, and apparently it has “All rigths Reserved.” A lot of the links open in new windows, or resize the page somehow, and to be honest, a lot of them point to the Williams site anyway. So, you may as well just go there.

Yikes! Every link I clicked took me to a completely different website, the first of which appears to simply be a long list of various GP results but nothing more. It's hard to think of anything good to say about this one, it reminds me of the web of yesteryear. At least nothing jumps around and if pushed I'd say the photos are... well... nice.

Site: http://www.kazuki-nakajima.com/
Fan Rating: 4 out of 10
Geek Rating: 2 out of 10

David Coulthard

I think it’s the use of frames on this site that makes it feel really out of date. However, it’s nice that he has a personal blog on there that is updated regularly, and he’s really honest about some of the things that go on behind the scenes. I was encouraged to find a video diary on there prior to Melbourne but that seems to have been a one off. There’s also a very obvious and blatant link to his column on ITV.

Pleasant, is the way I'd describe the experience of David's homepage. It doesn't try to do too much and it's reasonably straightforward to navigate, although I'd argue the left-hand links are redundant as they're simply duplicates of the horizontal menu.

The helmet that moves back and forth is a bit ridiculous, it's unresponsive and often bears no relation to the page you're looking at, while the token video is of poor quality but notable for its original take on cinematography. When was the last time you watched TV in portrait mode, I ask ya?

Site: http://www.davidcoulthard.co.uk/
Fan Rating: 7 out of 10
Geek Rating: 6 out of 10

Mark Webber

Ah, the curse of the cross promotion continues, as Webber links to his BBC column. Do you think that makes any rivalry between them even stronger? Anyway, Mark’s site is littered with links which are quite confusing to navigate, but it usually means you are never lost. It’s easy to get back to where you started from, but not so easy to get where you want to go.

I love that Mark's using a circuit layout as his site map. It's such a fine idea I feel we might even have to steal borrow it for Sidepodcast. It always helps with site content when a driver has a life outside of racing and it's here that Webber has an edge. A restaurant, his 'challenge' and his clothing collection should all make for good reading, but sadly all the links lead to other sites.

Nothing annoyed me about markwebber.com, and it worked consistently on every browser I checked it against.

Site: http://www.markwebber.com/
Fan Rating: 5 out of 10
Geek Rating: 7 out of 10

We're halfway through our list of driver websites, and I'd say we've covered pretty much everything from the garish to the dull and the sparse to the crowded. I wonder what delights await us in part three.

Sites for Sore Eyes (Part 1)

During the Monaco weekend, discussion in the comments fell to drivers and their websites, specifically a comparison between Jenson B and Nico R and their relative dot coms. We decided it’d be an interesting idea to look at all the drivers websites and compare them, and now seems to be as good a time as any (because I am fighting having to talk about Max for as long as possible).

So, for clarification, I will be approaching the website as a fan, seeing what information is out there, and the geeky one will look at, well, the geeky stuff. So, let’s start.

Kimi Raikkonen

It’s always good to be confronted with a great picture to start with, and Kimi’s site opens with the Ferrari facing you head on. It’s clean and navigation is simple, there’s the usual biography and press releases, but it’s all very easy on the eye. There aren’t many wallpapers, which makes the multimedia page a bit over the top, but there’s a shop, a forum, and info on the official fan club, so plenty of places for fans to interact.

Something odd happens when I click on Kimi's shop or forum links. A whole other website opens that seems entirely unrelated to the previous one and if I try to buy some merchandise I end up at a third one! On the plus side the forum appears to be pretty active, the general layout of the site is good, and blimey it loads fast.

Site: http://www.kimiraikkonen.com/
Fan rating: 7 out of 10
Geek rating: 5 out of 10

Felipe Massa

Argh, my eyes!! It’s garish and bright. Nagivation is simple enough but the sheer amount of flashy animation involved makes it hard work. Plus, the picture on the left keeps on smashing into pieces and falling off screen, to be replaced by another. It’s very distracting. There is a nice Ask Me feature, where you can submit a question and Felipe will answer the best ones, but I couldn’t bear to stay on the site long enough to read many of them.

Gah! The thing I dislike more than anything in the world, are websites that play music without my permission. The chances of me listening to some proper music while browsing the net are pretty high, so interruptions are always annoying.

The site itself is way too high maintenance, and feels like it's aimed at the younger F1 fan. On the plus side it is translated into three languages, but since when have you had to pay to use a forum?

Site: http://www.felipemassa.com/
Fan rating: 3 out of 10
Geek rating: 3 out of 10

Nick Heidfeld

Nick’s website isn’t flashy or pretty but it’s very easy to use and stores a lot of information. As well as the usual news and biography, there’s some articles about Nick and his own GP Diary. There’s a lot of writing about the car and the team, which is good to see, but perhaps a bit too much. I didn’t take the time to read it all. In fact, once I’d read the “Quick Nick” stats and found out his favourite food was liver, I was too put off to go much further.

You would have thought with all their money, an F1 driver could afford a proper domain name. I had to check three times that I was in fact visiting the correct site.

In usability terms Nick's place has a nice layout with a simple menu structure, although a couple of times I came across database error messages. It lacks the personal touch though, being piggybacked onto a corporate site in this way.

Site: http://www.motorsport-magazin.com/nickheidfeld/
Fan rating: 6 out of 10
Geek rating: 4 out of 10

Robert Kubica

Just like Raikkonen’s site, Kubica’s official site opens with a great close up of him in the car. It’s in Polish, and I couldn’t see any options to translate any of the articles, although there was the occasional piece in English. However, there wasn’t that much to translate anyway. Information about the season, news updates, a contact page and a countdown timer pretty much make the substance of the site. The images of the track are really good, mind you.

Pointless, is probably the best way to describe Robert's site. It's one and only saving grace is the 2008 season page which features some damn fine circuit graphics, in fact they're some of the best I've ever seen. Aside from that there's nothing to keep you around for more than 20 seconds or so.

I do love a short domain name though.

Site: http://www.kubica.pl/
Fan rating: 4 out of 10
Geek rating: 3 out of 10

Fernando Alonso

You’re presented with a lot of information on the homepage, most of it quite in your face and distracting. However, if you take some time to adjust, it’s then easy to find your way around. Whilst all the basics are there, news, biography, etc, the whole feel of the site is a bit impersonal. A lot of it is third person, and you kind of think maybe Alonso doesn’t have anything to do with it.

When I first visited the site it made a noise like a strangled animal, and I couldn't for the life of me work out why? Eventually I tracked the offending squawk to an advert at the base of the homepage... not the best welcome in the world.

I couldn't get the shop to work, and the whole place screams "sell-out" with far too much marketing and not enough substance. Ferni's history section is a superb way of looking back through his career, but has been implemented in what can politely be described as a 'unique' way.

Site: http://www.fernandoalonso.com
Fan rating: 5 out of 10
Geek rating: 3 out of 10

Sheesh, we've only done five? That seems like enough to be going on with. This may take longer than I initially thought. Never mind, though, check out part two for the second half of our driver site criticism rundown.

Formula 1 and Social Networking

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

As the new cars are being rolled out during these few launch months, teams are also starting to embrace their legion of fans that use the internet. Renault have unveiled a new social network, Force India have been doing it for a while, and Honda are getting their act together for a revamp.

Renault
Renault have always been relatively forward thinking when it comes to reaching out to their fans in new and imaginative ways. Last season, they used the web to great success with live feeds of each of their drivers and all kinds of data being thrown back from each race. They announced they will repeat the effort this year, so if you want to log in to Renault's site, you should be able to follow Alonso's every move out on track from the comfort of your own sofa.

Now they have branched out into social networking, with a fledgling fan site. The premise is for users to share photos, upload blog entries and generally connect with other Renault fans. It's a brand new site and moderation is fierce, but it's getting better all the time and will continue to improve as more and more people use it.

Force India
This fan site has been around longer than the others and a lot of the bug fixing has already taken place. There is less moderation, more trust, and plenty of users already on there, sharing their thoughts and dreams for the newest site on the grid. With the team trying to bring Formula 1 to hundreds of new fans in India, this social network could really take off when they finally take to the track proper.

Honda
The Honda site has long since accepted fan photos and videos, but very few people either knew about it or were using it. I certainly only just discovered that you could do that, and when I had a look there were no videos and only about 7 photos for each month (all of which looked quite corporate, perhaps uploaded by Honda to save embarrassment?) Now, the team are planning a revamp of their site to be more like the Renault effort - photos, videos, blogging. Whether this iteration will be any more successful than the last one remains to be seen.

So what is the point of this social networking and why are the teams bothering? There are more and more fans using the internet to try and get their information about teams and drivers. Marketing departments have obviously realised that getting lots of fans in one place, talking about and being immersed in a Honda experience, for example, can only be a good thing.

From the fans point of view, I would suggest that we need more information coming out of the teams, rather than yet another place to post our photos.

Website Review - Formula1.com

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

The official website of Formula 1 used to be a bit of an archaic place to visit. There was some information there but it was hard to find, the design wasn’t particularly exciting and it left a lot to be desired. Considering the highly technical and design orientated sport Formula 1 is, it seemed an odd way for the official website to behave.

Thankfully, the brains behind the site have decided a revamp is in order and that’s just what they’ve done. First and most importantly, it looks a lot better. All the basic and most recent information you need is listed somewhere on the homepage, and the navigation is very simple to delve deeper behind the scenes.

The main reason for visiting the official site is the live timing. If you can’t get to a television or radio in time to hear Free Practice, Qualifying or the Race, then you can watch the timings on the internet. In fact, in our household, we use it as well as the regular channels so that we can always be on top of what’s going on. The drivers are listed with whoever is fastest or in the lead at the top, and then in descending order down the page. As the laps are done, the page updates with the new information and drivers are often swapping places up and down the list. It’s up to the minute information to enhance your Formula 1 viewing.

Now, the website has more news and press releases and they are very accessible. There are plenty of archives for you to browse through with articles dating back to 2003, and race results information dating back to the 1950s.

My favourite part of the website is the gallery. There really are hundreds of pictures to look through, and given the official status of the website, there are many behind the scenes shots that you wouldn’t normally see. You can search for your favourite driver, browse by race, or click through the years from 2002 to the present day. There are pictures of testing and launches plus other F1 events.

All in all, there is not that much more added content, but it is presented in such a nice and refreshing way that it does feel like there is more on the site. I do think it would be enhanced by providing video footage of weekends, especially given how tight the copyright rules are enforced by Bernie Ecclestone. Just this week he has cracked down on YouTube clips of the British race. If you’re not going to let other people put up videos, it really should be one of your priorities to provide them with it somewhere else.