21:44:44

BMW website gives 'best experience'

New research shows that 85% of car buyers visit manufacturers' websites before purchasing, but those in the market for a new Ferrari could be disappointed.

The independent research was carried out by Global Reviews, a firm which specialises in customer experience benchmarking. In its sample of 1100 people, it found out what they looked for in a website to make it useful to them, used this to create a benchmark of the best sites, and then compared UK websites against it.

The best sites are scored out of 100, and Ferrari scored the lowest of the premium brands surveyed, scoring just 44% for user experience of its site. BMW offered the best customer experience with 76%.

Audi scored the highest for having full lists of its cars' features on its website (94%), but Ferrari again scored poorly at 39%.

17:03:49

Ecclestone: US GP no necessity

One day after Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials hoped to sign a long-term agreement to keep the United States Grand Prix at the famed track, Ecclestone wrote a letter reiterating his position that an American race isn't a necessity for the globe-hopping F1 series.

"It is not vital to Formula One to be in the United States," Ecclestone wrote, the series' website reported on Thursday. "There are bigger markets for us to be in other parts of the world. We could be in India soon instead of the United States."

Ecclestone voiced a similar opinion last summer before signing a one-year extension to continue racing at Indy. He was expected to arrive in Indianapolis late on Thursday.

Speedway president Joie Chitwood declined, through a spokesperson, to respond to the letter.

In an interview on Wednesday, before the letter was made public, Chitwood said Ecclestone and speedway boss Tony George were expected to meet this week and that race organisers wanted to have a long-term deal in place by the end of Sunday's US GP.