About this plugin
Race Session Countdown displays the active or next Formula 1 session and updates the countdown every second. The bundled schedule uses ISO 8601 UTC timestamps, while the weekend list follows the timezone configured in WordPress.
Features:
- Real-time countdown with active-session and season-over states.
- Google Calendar link and locally generated ICS calendar file.
- Multiple countdown widgets on the same page.
- Next-weekend session list in the WordPress site timezone.
- Optional per-recipient WP-Cron email reminders during the hour before a session.
- Configurable recipient roles and message templates.
- Bounded delivery logs with WordPress personal-data export and erasure support.
- Accessible, responsive output with no remotely loaded scripts or styles.
Shortcodes:
- [racesessioncountdown] displays the countdown.
- [racesessioncountdown_weekend_sessions] displays the next race-weekend schedule.
The 2026 schedule is bundled with this release. Event dates can change after publication, so update the plugin when a schedule update becomes available and verify important dates against an official source.
This is an unofficial, independently developed plugin. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Formula 1, Formula One Management, the FIA, Google, Apple or Microsoft. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.
External services
The plugin offers an optional Google Calendar link. Data is sent only after the visitor clicks that link. Google receives the event title, start and end times, and the text “Race Session Countdown” as URL parameters.
Use of Google Calendar is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service.
The plugin does not call a Formula 1 API and does not automatically load code, fonts, images or tracking pixels from third parties. Email is sent through the standard WordPress wp_mail() system and the mail transport configured by the site owner.
Privacy
The plugin does not collect visitor data or perform tracking. Email reminders are disabled by default.
When reminders are enabled, the plugin uses email addresses belonging to registered WordPress users in the roles selected by an administrator. Delivery logs store the recipient email address, message subject and body, time, type and delivery result. Logs are limited to the latest 100 entries, are visible only to administrators with the manage_options capability, and can be cleared from the plugin settings page.
Reminder-log data is included in the WordPress personal-data export and can be removed with the WordPress personal-data eraser. Uninstalling the plugin removes its settings, logs, scheduled task and temporary reminder markers.