BBC revamps Formula 1 site

Posted on

| Written by

The BBC has re-launched its Formula 1 website ahead of the 2009 F1 season. ‘Formula One’ now gets its own tab on the Sport homepage (which, confusingly, is separate from the ‘motor sport’ section).

There are some excellent offerings on the site including video clips from past races. There are new columns from pundits including Martin Brundle.

New presenter Jake Humphrey gets his own blog (and he’s dishing out the link-love – thanks Jake!). So does the ‘F1 mole’ – a somewhat different offering to Grandprix.com’s column by the same name.

What do you make of the new BBC F1 site?

Thanks to F1India, F1-fans, Toomuchracing, Matt and Ade for the tip.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

30 comments on “BBC revamps Formula 1 site”

  1. It’s got a flashy new paint job but not a lot else. They seem to have spent £3.50 on their F1 trailer video and rather worryingly a lot of the content is very Lewis heavy with little mention of other drivers.

  2. I’m impressed

  3. Generally I like it. The navigation could be (a lot) better, i.e. there needs to be a ‘home’ for the blogs and for the videos rather than randomly scattered about the F1 page. But yeah, there’s potential and the videos they do have are good, ‘Greatest Hits’ is brilliant.

    The trailer is a bit rubbish. The cars are doing what, 30mph? And isn’t filmed as well as it could’ve been – if TG crew had done it they would make the same idea look very different.

  4. Looks like a good start – a reasonable level and spread of content to start with. Hopefully they’ll keep adding plenty of content in the run up to the season.

    1. Your quote got a mention on the BBC Internet Blog:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/03/interesting_stuff_20090309.html

      Well done! 8-)

  5. I think the link to the V8 engine went a bit far.

  6. When I first saw it there were links to articles entitled “Chris Moyles Trains With Lewis” and “Which Showbiz Babe Do The Drivers Really Fancy?” and my heart just sank. On first glance it appeared like they were targeting it at the BBC Three audience.
    .
    Thankfully there’s a lot more to it than that.
    .
    I was extremely disappointed, however, that my licence fee went towards a promotional video of what looks like two F1 cars in a car chase in which NEITHER OF THE CARS IN QUESTION CRASHED THROUGH A PILE OF EMPTY CARDBOARD BOXES. I will write a stiff letter of complaint to the Daily Mail.

    1. I saw no fruit market stalls or plate glass being carried by two men either.

      Those streets wern’t half bumpy though, wern’t they?

  7. I hope the beeb see’s this as a start to the revamp and intend to do more…

  8. does it always play an ad before the video, or just for those outside the uk? for anything previously broadcasted in the uk, bbc.com usually doesn’t allow me to view it. bbc america is old episodes of everything, with a third of it missing due to ads – you’d love it.

    1. Hey there Yankee,

      Can i ask did you actually get the trailer on the bbc site after the ad?

      I only got 2 different ads and no trailer at all and i live in Phoenix.

      It looks like i gonna have to put up with speed for f1 if i can’t watch bbc online, and i think speed’s coverage is crap.

    2. yep, it played that and the brawn gp video properly (i’m using opera). usually, it’s bbc news and TG that give me the “not available in your area” message.

      if speed is crap, it’s not the fault of varsha, hobbs, matchette and windsor. they’re great, but they need some actual tv show, and not just narration.

    3. I agree with you about speed, but i am a brit in america and i am used to coverage we get in england where they actually go to the races not just commentate from a studio thousands of miles away.

  9. I haven’t noticed much difference there between the original and the improved, apart from more articles. Where are all the promised goodies?

  10. hamilton wc 09
    6th March 2009, 8:45

    NOT bad i think, i like that brundle seems to have his own blog, hopefully it will be a weekly one

  11. The F1 trailer is horribly tacky.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7911126.stm

    Lets hope the coverage is a better standard as these cars look like they are standing still.

    The Shell ad with Ferrari trounces this effort although more money was spent on it. I’d rather the BBC reuse some old F1 clips than this.

  12. I’m not keen on the heavy Hamilton slant. I really detest him being referred to as Lewis. I know that’s his name, but in a racing capacity he is Hamilton, and it just seems far too biased when you constantly refer to a driver in that way.

  13. There’s promising signs their coverage won’t be taking itself too seriously like Rider and Blundell could (and Match of the Day)

    I liked the driver & team profiles…for most of the team bosses, the answer to “Can you explain your team’s philosophy in three words?” is “No!”

    I hope they keep these parts of the site updated – BBC must make it a priority to ask Ross Brawn what kind of animal his team would be.

  14. It is a good starting point, some changes could do with being made though, like a previous poster said they should have a home for blogs and videos etc.

    I assume as time goes on we will see more content then they used to have. Closer to the start of the season they should also have a clear link to a page with all the TV listings for F1 on the BBC so you can easily tell what’s on.

    We should try to get them to put a link to F1 Fanatic on the main page and not just from the blogs

  15. The thing that gets me worried is the following:

    “Angelina or Keira? Discover who F1 drivers prefer – and much more – in our new profiles”

    Who gives a crap? This isn’t BBC3 or heat magazine, this is motor racing – a high speed entertaining and serious sport.

    Contrary to Tom above, I want them to take themselves seriously.

  16. yeh kester, fancy focusing on the world champ. what next? sky show man utd games more than West Broms?

    tiger woods is called tiger does that get you really cross as well?

  17. I give the makeover a thumbs up. It’s got video footage now and and the MB blog adds a lot. I reckon it’s better than ITV-F1.

    That said the BBC could attract a ton of viewers if they had Fantasy F1 on there (a good one anyway).

  18. StrFerrari4Ever
    6th March 2009, 16:26

    good site needs to be improved a bit though making everything clearer instead of being scattered everywhere but that trailer is a bit well average wouldve expected more maybe it will be improved :P

  19. Not as good as Brundle’s site
    http://www.martinbrundle.com

    1. Hadn’t seen that before – thanks!

  20. Just to say, the preview has now been re-edited and looks massively better than it first did!

  21. The site is Ok but lacks serious comprehensive pre-season test coverage, especially in terms of published laptimes. And while it may not be an issue for the site, where oh where is the BBC F1 archive? Could we not at least have some proper edited highlights of classic races on the I Player rather than Murray’s 5 2 minute summaries?
    Truly awful, crass trailer for the new season, too.

  22. If you want to see a reader’s feedback :) , I rate this article for four from five. Detailed info, but I just have to go to that damn google to find the missed pieces. Thank you, anyway!
    p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.

  23. lkasd fkas dfkj k dfk adf ladfkl lkadf testComment_356

  24. it is still very beautiful

Comments are closed.