Privacy policy
Last updated: 22 September 2026
The Pitlane is a free Formula 1 prediction game with no real money involved. This page sets out exactly what data the service collects, what it does with it, where it is kept and how to have it deleted.
The service sells no data, passes none to advertisers and uses no advertising trackers. There is no Google Analytics, no social network pixel and no third-party cookie.
Who is responsible
The Pitlane is published by a private individual, personally and non-commercially. For any question or request about your data, write to [email protected].
What is collected
- Email address
- Identifying the account, sending the verification code and allowing a password reset. Kept: for as long as the account exists.
- Username
- Showing you in standings and leagues. Kept: for as long as the account exists.
- Password
- Authenticating you. It is never stored in the clear: only an irreversible cryptographic hash is kept. Kept: for as long as the account exists.
- Google account identifier
- Recognising you on later sign-ins, if you use “Continue with Google”. Kept: for as long as the account exists.
- Predictions, points and results
- Running the game: working out scores and keeping the standings. Kept: retained after account deletion, in anonymous form.
- Chosen language
- Showing the interface and emails in your language. Kept: for as long as the account exists.
- IP address and sign-in browser
- Letting you spot a session you do not recognise, and limiting automated sign-in attempts. Kept: 90 days at most.
Signing in with Google
If you choose “Continue with Google”, the service asks Google for two pieces of information, and two only:
- your email address, together with whether Google has verified it;
- your Google account identifier — a number specific to The Pitlane, which lets no one else identify you.
The service asks for neither your name, nor your profile picture, nor access to your contacts, calendar or files. None of that is received or stored. The avatar shown beside your username is a car livery generated at random when the account is created: it is not your Google picture.
If the email address Google returns matches an existing The Pitlane account and Google has verified it, the two are linked rather than a second account being created. An address Google has not verified is refused: without that rule, anyone could claim someone else's address and take over their account.
You can withdraw this access at any time from your Google account permissions. Your The Pitlane account remains, and stays reachable with your password.
Cookies
The service sets only the cookies it needs to work. No advertising or analytics cookie is used — which is why you are shown no consent banner.
- Session cookie: keeps you signed in from page to page. It goes when you sign out.
- Trusted device cookie: saves asking you for a verification code every time you sign in from the same device. Valid for 90 days. On its own it does not grant access — the password is still required.
Where the data is held
Data is held in a PostgreSQL database on a personal server located in France, and so within the European Union. It is neither replicated nor transferred outside the EU.
Traffic passes through Cloudflare's network, which provides HTTPS encryption and protection against attacks. Cloudflare routes requests without retaining your account's contents.
The sporting results shown (standings, qualifying, weather) come from public sources and contain no data about you.
Your rights
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you the right to access your data, correct it, have it erased, obtain a copy of it and object to its processing.
Write to [email protected]: requests are handled within 30 days. You may also lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority, the CNIL.
Deleting your account
On deletion, your email address, your username and your sign-in credentials are erased. Your past predictions are kept in anonymous form, detached from your identity: without them, the standings of races already played would be wrong for the other players.
Minors
The service is not intended for children under 15 and does not knowingly collect their data. If you find such an account, report it to the address above and it will be deleted.
Changes
This policy may change as the service does. The date at the top of the page gives the last revision; a substantial change is announced in the app.