It’s already March and the 2026 F1 Season has fully kicked off.
Lets checkout what happend @nitrous in the last month.
F1 API Changes
With the new season came some notable changes to the telemetry data available from Formula 1. Not all of it is good news.
Team Radio has been removed from the API. It was available last season, but it’s no longer being broadcast through the data feed, so it’s gone from the app for now until — or if — it comes back.
Energy Modes are a new feature of the 2026 regulations, replacing DRS. Unfortunately the data for it is not yet available through the API. Something to watch as the season progresses.
Active Aero is in the same boat as energy modes — new to the 2026 cars, but not yet available in the data feed. Nothing we can do on our end until it shows up.
Trackmap
This was the big one for this update cycle. A proper trackmap has been implemented, and it involved quite a few moving parts.
Backend server — A small backend service was built to handle track metadata. This was already listed as a requirement in the last update under “Driver tracker”, and it’s now live. It handles serving track geometry data and related assets.
Generation — Track maps are not simply static images. The track geometry is generated from positional telemetry data, which means the trackmap for each circuit is derived from actual car position data rather than hand-drawn assets. This keeps it accurate and avoids manual work per circuit.
Application — The trackmap is now integrated into the main application. It lives alongside the timing tower and updates in real time during live sessions, as well as scrubbing correctly during replay.
Rendering — Rendering the track efficiently required some care. The current approach renders the track geometry cleanly at different scales and handles the rotation and orientation of each circuit correctly.
Track positions — Driver positions are plotted on the trackmap in real time. Each driver is shown as a colored dot corresponding to their team color, making it easy to see where everyone is on circuit at a glance.
Session Replay Update
Basic rewind has been implemented. You can now scrub backwards through a session, not just forward. It’s still early — there are some edge cases to iron out — but the core mechanic works and it makes replaying incidents a lot more useful.
What’s next?
The MVP is getting closer. Here’s what’s still on the list:
- Simple homepage with the current race weekend
- Simple archive search to select which session to replay
- Settings page
- Session & Weather Info
Thanks for following along. There’s more coming soon.
Best regards,
- slowlydev