About RaceSonar
Formula 1, made followable without a screen — or without sound.
RaceSonar narrates every session aloud for blind and low-vision fans, and turns it into touch for deaf and hard of hearing fans. Live, free, in the browser.
By ear
The live timing feed becomes a commentary: overtakes, pit stops, flags, penalties, retirements and the gaps between cars, spoken as they happen. The narrator keeps a pace you choose — only the big moments, the story, or everything — and the loudest moment always speaks first. Follow one driver and their race comes through louder. Join at half distance and a spoken summary catches you up before the live feed carries on. It works with the app's own voice or stays silent and lets your screen reader read the captions instead.
By touch
Every kind of event has a vibration of its own, told apart by count and rhythm, not fine timing: one sharp buzz is an overtake, long-then-short is a pit stop, two heavy thuds a retirement, a building ramp the safety car, three long blasts a red flag. On a phone it works in the browser; on a Wear OS watch the patterns use the motor's shaped primitives, and a trackside mode pulses faster and harder as your driver approaches the spot where you stand.
And with captions
Everything spoken is also written: a live caption log, a running order that updates through the session, and a map of the circuit with every car on it. High-contrast and large-text themes are one switch away, every control works with a keyboard, and the shortcuts follow accessibility conventions.
Questions
How can a blind person follow a Formula 1 race?
RaceSonar turns the live timing feed into spoken narration: every overtake, pit stop, flag, penalty and retirement is announced as it happens, with the biggest moments spoken first. It works with your screen reader or with the app's own voice, and a summary can catch you up if you join mid-race.
How can a deaf person follow a Formula 1 race?
Every kind of event has its own vibration pattern — one sharp buzz for an overtake, two heavy thuds for a retirement, a building ramp for the safety car — so the race is legible by touch on a phone or a Wear OS watch. Captions carry every word on screen at the same time.
Does it work live?
Yes. Live sessions are narrated as they happen, and a broadcast-sync setting can hold the narration back to line up with your TV. Finished races play as replays at your own pace.
What does it cost?
Nothing. RaceSonar is free while in beta.
Is it affiliated with Formula 1?
No. RaceSonar is an independent accessibility project built on public timing data from OpenF1 and Jolpica/Ergast.