With a glimpse of the sunshine across the UK, we've been trying for a work/life/Sidepodcast/outside balance, and it's been a lot of fun. There's been some great content across the site recently, as well as continuous improvements to the Factbyte Factbox during race weekends, and lots of brilliant live events to keep us all glued to our sports (and Eurovision) screens.

Formula One in May

This month saw the return of F1 to Europe, with the ever-present Barcelona circuit playing host to the Spanish Grand Prix, and the unique and glittery Monte Carlo giving us another incident-filled Monaco Grand Prix.

Sidepodcast in May

Development on Sidepodcast is slowing down for the summer months, as we tentatively step outside and make the most of the weather, and also take time to enjoy the racing action each fortnight(ish). However, we've made some tweaks to the Features page to promote some of the incredible work that is going on there.

Firstly, there's the central image gallery, which features the latest four articles in an easy-to-view format. Then, to the right hand side is a list of the five most popular articles in the current week, so you can see what is creating the buzz at any given time.

As well as on the writing side, Sidepodcast has made some tweaks to the podcasts as well. Hosting of the audio files has moved to Soundcloud, where there is a growing community on the site itself, and the ability to link back the files to our site. Hopefully, if you subscribe and enjoy the shows, nothing will have changed on that front, but, with the Soundcloud site and mobile apps, it does add another way to visit and listen.

Shows in May

As mentioned, not so much time was spent in the studio setup this month, but we have been laying the groundwork for some things to come in the future.

• Feet Up Friday - Regression is not the way forward

Features in May

Our race-related features are still coming in with excellent regularity and incredible insight. The text roundup of races, examining which drivers are doing the best work at any given weekend comes from Adam, who took a closer look at Alonso's performance in Spain and Rosberg's win in Monaco. Stuart's postcard images continue to brighten the site, with paddock confessions from Barcelona and the crash-happy Monaco.

Finally, two stand-alone pieces this month, as I wrote a Midfield Monitor review of Force India's performance in 2013 so far, and Will explained just exactly what that Coandă effect is and how it works.

Posts in May

We had some more brilliant guest posts this month, as Chris got back behind the wheel of a kart, and this time took a GoPro camera with him. Bridget took a closer look at socks, and Journeyer reviewed the highs and lows of F1 in Manila.

• The balance of power
• Caterham nose best
• The evolution of fireproof socks
• F1's got talent?
• Formula E's are good
• The Glock is ticking
• I dropped it, man - Christine's Rankings, Week 14
• It doesn't get any better than that
• It's all downhill from here
• It's very boring, you always repeat, repeat, repeat - Christine's Rankings, Week 15
• Manila Speed Show - What it was and what it could've been
• Monacoooooooooo! - Christine's Rankings, Week 13
• On Track with Chris - A karting triathlon
• Only six more sleeps - Christine's Rankings, Week 12
• Our friends' electric
• With you until the end

Hidden gems in May

While playing with some software, Mr C created an amazing picture of Fernando Alonso, made out of the words used in the Factbyte Factbox live text. There was some confusion over whether it was a Wordle-style image, where the size of the words is related to how often they are used, and Will took the next step to create one of those as well.

We posted a couple of Collections this month, one which brought together all the team preview posts ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, and another that rounded up the plethora of F1 Big Picture posts that came from the Monaco weekend. It sure is pretty, that Monte Carlo circuit.

Last but not least, a quick mention for some of the live events we had this month. Eurovision was brilliant, naturally, and we're currently enjoying the French Open tennis from Roland Garros. Also, Lukeh has continued to provide excellent intros to the IndyCar events, with a cracking Indy 500 earlier this week. I'm loving the amount of things we're covering and can't wait to see what's next!