Sidepodcast is today turning its F1 coverage up to eleven, with the release of the all new Factbyte Factbox. The interactive web panel enables us to provide real-time updates on any live event, be it an F1 session, another motorsport event or live streaming podcast.

Factbyte Factbox (FBFB) was first proposed back in April 2009 and has been something we've been keen to see launched for a very long time. Back in April, we described it thus:

Designed to take live shows and live racing to the next level, the FBFB will provide a secondary stream of information, highlighting any relevant data depending on circumstance. For example, offering up-to-date scoring during a panel show, or listing the closest battles during a race.

Almost one year on and that is exactly what we're launching today. Additionally, we're planning on using the tool to augment future live streaming podcasts, providing real-time show notes and enabling interaction via live voting, results of which will be fed back into recordings.

We should point out that what we're launching today isn't the final iteration of the web panel. It carries a "beta" tag because it is a service that's still undergoing heavy development. However, we felt that this was something that should be available from the very start of the F1 season, and thus we're opening the doors today. We're expecting teething troubles coupled with rapid development for the next few months.

If you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, the live commenting page currently houses the FBFB. The plan is to make it available via other pages in due course. Furthermore, we'll be running a live beta test at 21:45 GMT, should anyone be available to offer feedback.

Updated: The live test has now finished, but you can view the full list of updates below: