This site has undergone many changes across the last seven plus years. Debuting initially as a weekly podcast, we've evolved through hectic nine-shows-a-weekend seasons, live thread community bonding, quality video production, feature length writing, real life meetups, virtual parties, endless F1 debates and an expansion of sporting and non-sporting interests. Through it all there have been highs and lows, triumphs and tantrums, and that's just Mr C.

As you've probably gathered, another change is on the cards. Not to put it too grandly, it's essentially the end of Sidepodcast as you once knew it. At the end of this season we're switching the comments off. F1 and non-F1 live threads alike will cease too as Sidepodcast becomes a read-only area. There are three main reasons for this:

1) For me personally, just as for many people out there, F1 has become one of many competing interests in the modern world. As much as I still love the sport, I can't justify spending as much time on it these days. You'll have no doubt noticed this year, I've been off having adventures. Whilst experiencing new and exciting things, there's always been a seed of guilt that I've left Sidepodcast behind. I hate that.

2) The community as it once was has largely drifted away. Part of it is natural, much of it we caused ourselves. As always, I'd rather just call it than wait until there is no one left in the comments at all and they are a shadow of their former selves. I also think that we at Sidepodcast HQ and the commenters alike have both gotten as much as we can from it. The debates have been had over and over, friends made and lost, 12 hours of live radio that cannot be beaten.

3) There really are better ways to discuss the sport, and comments are no longer the be all and end all of conversation. We've argued before, that social networks allow for better, more varied conversations and that has held true for a long time now. Recently there have been many studies that suggest comments on posts can derail the truth and beauty of the original article. There's a time and a place for a right to reply and we no longer believe that immediately following an article is the ideal location.

None of this is to say that Sidepodcast will disappear. We're still excited by F1, we still like writing and talking, creating and crafting. It is simply time to step back and do it on our own schedule. Mr C has felt this way for a while, and not been ashamed to admit it. I've only just got there, but it definitely feels like time for a change.

Sidepodcast, and the community that formed around it, has been and always will be one of the greatest things that happened to me, one of my proudest achievements and something I want to treasure forever. I'm taking the iniative now to capture that, so that nowhere does it turn to resentment. We're still going to be here, you know where to find us, I didn't push for that contact form for nothing.

But equally, I know it won't be the same. It is the end of an era, and a sad time, no doubt. Our plan is to continue like we are until the end of this season, finishing as we started and revamp the next generation of Sidepodcast during the offseason.

Thanks for everything, Sidepodpeople. You are all brilliant.