Wheely, wheely mad: Petrolheads fume over buggy Formula One app

Furious Formula One fans are fed up with the glitzy motor racing contest's official mobile app, which spews out inaccurate driver information and regularly buckles on customers.

Worse still, petrolheads who downloaded the app on to their Android and iOS devices were charged a one-off £26 subscription fee for unlimited access.

But plenty of complaints are stacking up online, as well as in the review sections of the flaky, bug-littered app, which on the iOS version alone has been updated seven times since mid-March.

Last year, F1 enthusiasts were charged £9 for an earlier version of the app. There was also a free service provided by Formula One on its website.

As Reg reader Jules told us, "this year, when the free service was taken off the official F1 site and the subscription went up to £26, we assumed great things were afoot".

Our reader added:

At first glance, there are Android and iOS apps and a website all purporting to offer “live data feeds”, “real time track positions”, “immersive experiences”, etc. On paper it looks great. Problem is, none of it is working.

Unfortunately, a quarter of the way through the season, the Android and iOS apps still suffer stalls and hangs during races (“Servers issues we are looking into”) not to mention that the Premium “real-time track position” screens are a mere work of fiction (we have a TV, so can check ...)

But more galling than anything right now is the so-called “portal” to allow users to pay just the one subscription for platform wide access.

It still doesn’t work.

The F1 team has apparently promised fans that it will resolve the glitches in its app, which may explain why there have been a number of bug fixes over the past few months.

However, a cursory glance at Twitter reveals that gripes about the F1 app aren't going away yet.

. @F1 Aren't you embarrassed that portal to link App and #F1Access STILL NOT F'ING READY?!?! You have Strategy Group working on it??

— SnowLeopard71 (@SnowLeopard1971) May 19, 2015

C'mon @f1 & @f1timingapp Again this app is NOT working well!

— F1 Thunder (@f1thunder) May 10, 2015

For the second race in a row the official @F1 app isn't working properly. Not good enough.

— Iain Mark Jackson (@IMJ84) May 10, 2015

@F1 the app its not working again. Same shit every race. Junk

— Nuno Ferreira (@NunoMiguelF) May 10, 2015

@f1timingapp Yet again my app is not working. Terrible this year, utterly terrible for such an expensive app #F1

— Stef Walton (@Stef_Walton) May 10, 2015

Fantastic news! The @F1 app is once again not working properly. Best money I've ever spent...NOT! #hopeless

— Julian Thomson (@JediJT74) May 10, 2015

@F1 @f1timingapp Three weeks to fix things, and your app is *still* broken? #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/PmDOwN7aqF— Alex Rowell (@AlexRowell) May 10, 2015

El Reg sought comment from Formula One, however at time of publication we hadn't heard back from the company.

F1 drivers will next be competing in the Monaco Grand Prix tomorrow. ®