Sidepodcast

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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