Dirty Side Deckchair

  Just can't bear not winning a WDC Just recently I saw the news that Roger Federer was hanging up his racket as he had to admit old Father Time had finally caught up with him. This was the picture of him with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. GOAT Farm Between these four they had essentially locked out the men's tennis scene.  Since Federer won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2003 only 10 titles out of a possible 78 have gone to anyone outside these four.  As a tennis fan I was very lucky to live through this entire era. Many great but not exceptional players found themselves unlucky to be born in such an era of men's tennis and never win the titles that their skill level may have achieved in a different era.  The same is true over on the women's side of the game with the dominance the Williams sisters had. This got me thinking to Formula 1 drivers who never took the World Drivers Championship despite being great drivers.    Could they ha...

  Ripley was not a fan of the track What do you mean you don't recognize this track? It is the most iconic and well known circuit loved by fans and drivers alike. Still no clue? OK, let me back up a little here and let you all catch up. There has been a lot written over recent weeks about the increase in street circuits, the "money over tradition" debate, and what really gives us the best racing.  This all kicked into gear again this week when the F1 2023 calendar was published and all of a sudden Vegas was being ridiculed despite not a single wheel rolling around that track yet. This got us thinking over at the Dirty Side... What would the perfect track look like if we made it from a blend of fans & drivers favorite sections from tracks currently on the calendar. After a huge amount of scientific research we present to you the greatest F1 track in the world! It's assembled from the top 10 tracks based on a blended view of drivers & fans enjoyment all calculat...

  Maybe the best ever safety car The subject of safety cars and how a race should or should not be finished behind it was the main topic of conversation after the Italian GP saw us finish behind one. Before we delve into each side of this debate, let's take a quick look at the history of this feature of F1. What is a Safety Car? Well, to put it simply it is a car that takes to the track to lead the race cars around at a slower pace to allow for safety work to take place on the track.  This mainly means that marshals will be out on track to maybe help move a stranded car or pick up debris after a crash.   If the issue is too severe a Safety Car situation may be escalated to a Red Flag and the race stops.  If the race was not red flagged then when the track is clear, the Safety Car returns to the pits and the lead car has the job of restarting the race. A Safety Car might also be deployed in extreme wet weather.  More on that later! The first use of a safety ...

Not real - do not print to use to race in F1 If you're an F1 fan, and have spent any time in the news this last week or so, chances are that the story of Colton Herta and the super license or lack of it has caught your attention. While I knew of the existence of the super license as a concept, I hadn't ever explored exactly what it is, how you get it, and why there seems to be such an outcry around whether Colton Herta should or shouldn't be granted one. Well, that was before I had a blog to write on the Dirty Side Deckchair! So I put on my best Sherlock Holmes hat and went off into the wilderness of the world wide web to see what I could uncover. Me getting ready for the blog First things first; what exactly is a super license? Well, actually I need to turn off my US spellcheck as, according to the FIA, it should be referred to as a Super Licence as it is issued by a European organization. As you were guys, this one is allowed That's hardly the most important aspect bu...

First of all you need to be playing New Sensation by INXS in the background to fully immerse yourself in this blog post ;-) So, other than a bad song-title pun, what is this blog post all about? The answer is Adrian Newey. The Master Some of you may know everything there is to know about this guy and others may have just heard his name being thrown around in commentary. For those not in the know he is the mastermind behind most of the aerodynamic innovations & designs seen in the sport of F1 in modern times. Actually, that reference to modern times needs some context. Newey has been involved in F1 car design since the late 1980s which I'm not even sure counts as modern times given there has been more F1 run since he joined than before! Before his head became aerodynamic Cars designed by his pencil (yes, he still prefers a pencil) have won 186 Grand Prix as of the 2022 Belgium GP.   They have also won 10 constructors titles with three different teams and seven different dri...