Statement, 30 August 2026
Accessibility
RaceSonar exists to make a Formula 1 race followable by people who cannot see it or cannot hear it. This page says what that means in practice, how it is checked, and where it still falls short. It is written to be argued with.
What is built in
Screen readers.Every control is native HTML with a real name; landmarks and headings carry the structure; the caption log is a live region that is silent while the app's own voice is speaking, so nothing is announced twice. You can hand narration to your screen reader entirely and the app will not speak at all.
Keyboard. Everything works without a pointer, including choosing where to stand on the circuit. Focus is always visible. Single-key shortcuts can be switched off in Settings, so dictation and screen-reader browse keys are never hijacked.
Without sound. A distinct vibration for each kind of event, a caption for every word the voice says, and team radio transcribed to text. Vibration softens on its own when your system asks for reduced motion.
Seeing. Three themes including a maximum-contrast one, large text on its own switch, and colour never used alone: sector colours carry letters, pit state is a word, team liveries are decoration only. Nothing flashes. A Calm mode stops every animation on the page.
Touch. Every target is at least 44 pixels. Nothing needs dragging.
How it is checked
The site is built against WCAG 2.1 level AA. Every page and every state of the player is run through an automated accessibility checker (axe) as part of the test suite, which fails the build on a violation; there are seven hundred tests and several hundred of them assert structure a screen reader depends on — heading order, landmark names, one live region, focus order. Layouts are photographed at four widths before a change ships.
No formal audit has been done, against the RGAA or any other method, and this page claims no conformance level. Automated checks find perhaps a third of what an auditor would. The app has been used with one screen reader by one person who is not its intended audience. That is the honest position, and the reason the next section exists.
What is known to be missing
The interface is English. The voice can speak French — every sentence, the summary, the glossary, and what a screen reader is given to read — but the settings, the pages and the captions’ own wire text are in English, and the stewards’ notes are read as they are written.
Live narration runs behind the track by a few seconds, and behind television by less; a delay slider lets you match the two.
No braille-specific output. Captions read fine on a braille display, but nothing has been designed for it, and nothing has been designed for someone who is both deaf and blind.
Switch access and voice control have not been tested. The controls are standard, so they should work; nobody has confirmed it.
Offline, a page you have opened before still opens and a race you have played before still replays; a live session needs a connection.
Something is wrong
Write to hello@racesonar.com. Say which screen reader or browser, and what you expected to happen. Reports from screen-reader users are answered first, because they are the ones that change the product. There is one person behind this, and the reply will come from them.