Design Suggestions from an F1 Fan — Thank You for Creating F1 Cosmos

Hi Conrad, this is a long message. Thank you for your time.

I love F1 deeply. I even joined my university's Formula Student team as the first cross-city, cross-campus recruit. So when I found F1 Cosmos — free, professional, no registration — I was thrilled. I admire your skill and passion. Every race weekend, this tool brings me joy. Thank you.

Because I love it so much, I noticed a few things that could be even better, and I want to share them with you as a design-loving fan.

1. Two Core Problems

I see a systemic color differentiation issue at two levels:

Problem A — Teams clash:

· Ferrari's red vs Audi/Cadillac's red — nearly identical.

· Aston Martin's green vs Mercedes' teal — too close.

The gradation isn't wide enough. Your blue-team differentiation (Red Bull, RB, Williams) is excellent. I suggest applying that same logic to the red and green teams.

Problem B — Teammates share the exact same "p2" style="margin: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; font-width: normal; font-size: 17px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; min-height: 22px; caret-; ; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">

· Norris and Piastri: identical papaya orange.

· Antonelli and Russell: identical Mercedes teal.

When comparing teammates, the identical colors blend together. This affects lap time charts, standings, and all other modules.

2. My Solution: A Two-Tier Color System

Priority: Teams distinguishable first → Teammates distinguishable second

Tier 1 — Unique team primary colors:

· Ferrari: deep red

· Audi/Cadillac: silver-gray (avoid red entirely)

· Mercedes: teal

· Aston Martin: deep British racing green

· Red Bull: muted blue

· RB: deep navy blue

· Williams: bright cyan-blue

· McLaren: papaya orange

Tier 2 — Light/dark shades for teammates:

· Smaller car number → dark shade

· Larger car number → light shade

Example: Norris (#4) dark papaya, Piastri (#81) light papaya.

Requirements:

· At least 20-30% brightness difference between shades.

· Subtle hue shifts are okay (e.g., dark red toward burgundy, light red toward orange-red).

· Avoid saturation-only differentiation — brightness is the primary dimension.

3. Why Car Number?

I considered age (fair but unintuitive) and #1/#2 status (intuitive but unfair to drivers like Piastri). Car numbers are FIA-registered, completely objective, and every fan knows them. Zero cognitive barrier, absolutely fair.

4. Hover Interaction

When hovering a driver's lap time line, could you also show their headshot icon? It's a small progressive disclosure that gives instant confirmation without checking the legend.

5. Collaboration Request

I know F1 Cosmos is your independent project — that deepens my respect. My coding is limited, but I have a strong passion for data visualization and interface design. If you're open, I'd love to contribute as a design collaborator: unified color schemes, chart visual polish, UX suggestions. Of course, this is entirely up to you. Either way, I'll keep using and recommending F1 Cosmos.

Summary

This is a systemic proposal: first make teams distinguishable, then teammates. The system is logically unified, fair (car-number-based), and applicable site-wide.

Thank you again. I wish F1 Cosmos continued success.

Cheers,

A devoted F1 Cosmos fan and design enthusiast

(English is not my native language; I used a translation tool. I hope it reads well.)