Dirty Side Deckchair

Marathon or Sprint? It was announced this week that F1 will be featuring six (yes that's six) sprint races in the 2023 schedule.  Next season we will see the format rearing it's head at Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the USA and Brazil.   This format seems to split the fan base and does so in a couple of ways. These are basically the divide between those for and against the format all together and then those that kinda like it but feel it only works at certain tracks. In fact the list announced already raises some concern as while Brazil was a good example of a sprint race, we're not so sure how well one will fare in Baku. For anyone new to the party, the sprint format was introduced last year as a way to inject some action into each of the three days of a race weekend. In a sprint-less weekend, the Friday sessions are for the die-hard fans as they just consist of free practice where the teams & drivers will be dialing in the settings needed for the rest of...

Max's secret identity revealed Anyone who watched the Brazil GP last weekend, and maybe some that didn't, will have seen two main stories taking up the column inches.  First up was the superb showing for Mercedes and specifically George Russell as he secured his first victory in Formula 1. Secondly was the murkier side of F1 as we heard Max refuse to follow team orders and give up his place for Checo. For those not familiar with the history of team orders, and maybe for those who want a stroll down memory lane, we have compiled a quick overview of team orders in F1 and also picked out some memorable ones. So, what are team orders? We need to remember that while each driver is trying to win for themselves, they are part of a team and the team wants to maximize it's points total for the constructors championship.   In addition, there are also times when the team might be trying to ensure maximum points for one of the drivers, especially if only one of them is in contention ...

This week we saw the sad news that Mauro Forghieri had passed away at age 87. For many he is a well known super-power of automobile design, especially in F1 circles.  For others they perhaps saw the news and were not sure who this man was. Here at the Dirty Side we wanted to take a look at the career of someone regarded as one of Formula 1's greatest engineering geniuses. He was unique insofar as he designed not only engines but also the chassis and gearboxes.   Many designers focus on one discipline but Mauro was a unique individual with a head full of ideas. The story starts back in the late 1950s where a 24 year old Mauro took a role in Ferrari. He had done an internship in 1957 but had really been wanting to pursue a career in aviation.  In fact he had considered moving to California to pursue a role for a company making aircraft turbine engines. The story goes that Enzo himself played a part in persuading Mauro to move to Ferrari and, regardless of whether ...

  Coming to a track near you in 2026 The F1 news cycle was busy filling it's pages with the announcement that Audi will partner with Sauber from 2026 onwards.  There was much excitement despite it being so far away and the internet was awash with images like the one above of a concept livery for the team. This got us thinking over at Dirty Side headquarters. What liveries would we like to see on F1 cars? Being men of a certain age we were instantly drawn to the idea of what if 1980 TV & film replaced all the constructors?   What would that grid look like?    We sat down and came up with our favorite 10 shows and films from the 1980s and have created a livery based on each. If you are a child of the 80s maybe just look at the pictures first and try to spot all the elements within each one.   For those of you not familiar with them, we've got a little write up on them and a cheat sheet for the elements.  Here, in no order other than alphabe...