Motorsport101

Welcome back to the King of the Ring - Did you miss it? Dre's being totally honest in the intro, he feels like listening to this would be charity given we all bloody well knew what was about to happen, and yet here we are! Yep, Marc Marquez took both the Sprint and the Grand Prix in what ended up as his 9th MotoGP win in Germany, his 12th in all the classes, and his 69th Premier Class win, bringing him past Agostini for second on the all-time winners list. For Marc, at least the Sprint was interesting, with him having to come back from 5th on the grid after a poor start and a couple of near crashes. Yes, this is Marquez now and this is all we've got. The race itself stood out for a different reason - The first corner of poor judgement. Six bikes would crash into the hairpin to open the lap - Ogura, Mir, Zarco, Bezzecchi, Diggia and Savadori, all hitting the gravel. We explain how that came to be.  Also, the Jorge Martin contract dispute finally got resolved - Martin's backed down. Whoops. So how did the Ma

Here it is folks, Episode Number 600 of the Motorsport101 Podcast! After nearly 11 years, we've reached another incredible milestone, and we couldn't have done it without our incredible audience, thank you so much for listening, watching, and supporting us. As we've so often said, you're the best audience in the world and it's a privlege we get to entertain you. To celebrate the occasion, RJ suggested a watchalong of arguably the greatest Indy 500 of them all, the 1992 edition of the race. It was an Indy 500 in startling cold weather, stuck in the single-digit degrees, with a wind-chill dropping it to almost zero, a huge rate of attrition, and in the end, the closest finish in the history of the Indy 500, with just feet separating Al Unser Jr. and Scott Goodyear, who came all the way back from 32nd on the grid to nearly win it all.  It's a special, nearly 200 minute version of the Podcast, and if you really like us, head over to our Patreon page at Patreon.com/Motorsport101 to listen to an enhanced version

Oh dear. Just when you thought Alex Palou had it in the bag, he goes and looks human for just about the first time all season! Dre and RJ are joined by Frontstretch.com's Chris DeHarde to review IndyCar's Indy200 at Mid-Ohio, where Alex Palou dominated the running of the race, leading over 60 laps from pole position, and was looking great until running wide at Turn 9 opened the door for a fuel-saving win from Scott Dixon! With it, the Kiwi stretches his streak to 21 consecutive seasons with a win, and his 23rd in North American Motorsport. Did Dixon win it, or did Palou lose it? Also, another look in at Team Penske, with Josef Newgarden in particular drawing focus for another DNF, crashing out on the opening lap when he locked a rear axel and went into the wall. Just what is causing the former Champion's struggles? All that and more, on another Motorsport101! 

Thank the Racing Gods we were here to make a Podcast about this one BEFORE the news dropped for one. But yes, the reason this Podcast went up straight away is because we had to address Christian Horner being sacked from Red Bull Racing after 20 years on the job. We talk about the role the Verstappen camp MAY have played in it, what next for Horner, Red Bull and Racing Bulls with Laurent Meikes and Alan Permane taking the jobs left behind. We also review the British Grand Prix, with Nico Hulkenberg stealing the show to take his first podium in F1 after 239 career starts and 15 years in the making, in a genuine feel good moment for the whole sport. Oh, and Lando Norris also won his home GP after Oscar Piastri make a mistake and broke too hard as the Safety Car's lights went out. Unideal. But with the title fight down to just 8 points, has the momentum shifted in the Brits favour? And how cool was that Hulkenberg podium again? There's also more on Alpine's sneaky sixth, Ferrari and Mercedes crapping the bed ta

If there was ever a time for Marc Marquez to turn the screw on the MotoGP World Championship, this was the one.  It's a little late, so forgive us, but here's our review of the Assen TT, where Marc Marquez was bruised, battered and still victorious with his fifth double victory of 2025. This was despite two big crashes during the weekend, including a cup check of the unfortunate variety on Friday, and more accusations that brother Alex is softballin' him after a close fought Sprint. But with Marco Bezzecchi following Marc all the way home, it led to an intense fight all the way to the flag. It also led to heartbreak for brother Alex, who got caught in a tangle of arms with Pedro Acosta, and went down at 120mph, breaking a metacarpal in his hand in the process. It puts Alex back to 68 points behind his brother, and likely some painkillers in Germany.  There's also Pecco Bagnaia's continued struggles, and the latest episode of Jorge Martin's contract beef, as his agent Albert Valera went to Assen with every

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have another race long battle in the hills of Spielberg, and this time, it was the British driver who came out on top. Dre, Cam and RJ review the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, with a lot of different stories to tell. At the front, it was Lando Norris who won the battle with Oscar Piastri and held off the Australian's stronger pace in open air to win his third race of the year and reduce his Championship arrears to just 15 points. Is it a sign that the title race is back on, or was it ever really off to begin with? Further behind, Max Verstappen was taken out on the opening lap, and it became a visual metaphor for the last week of discourse. Is Max not only out of the title race, but out of Red Bull altogether. George Russell explaining that he hadn't been given an contract offer yet, and the reason why is because Toto Wolff is still talking to Max. Can Mercedes talk Max into a move? Is George trying to rock the boat? Is Toto going to cut Kimi Antonelli for Max, or George? Many, ma

Oh dear, it's happened again. Dre, Cam and RJ review what was a wild weekend from IndyCar at one of our Podcast's favourite circuites, the Xpel Grand Prix at Road America. It was another brilliant victory for Alex Palou, who came back from being roughed up early on and had to navigate chaos, 5 cautions and multiple moments of Penske's running cars off the road to get to the front, and then defeat teammmate Scott Dixon in a game of fuel-saving. That Damn Spaniard really is a magician, forcing Dixon to stop and holding off Felix Rosenqvist right at the final lap.  We talk about Palou's brilliance, that fuel save, and Santino Ferrucci's hot form, skulling a beer after his second podium finish of the season and his fourth straight Top 5 finish. There's also more at the bottom end of the table as Josef Newgarden suffered another crash to take him down to 17th in points and 249 behind Alex Palou. Is there anything to salvage from their season? There's also a chat about the new car that the series will be debuti

Well, talk about the air being sucked out of the room, phew.  On the one hand - We got the huge story that the European Commission has finally given Liberty Media the green light to complete their 84% purchase of Dorna Sports, MotoGP's commercial rights holder, with Chase Carey and Sean Bratches now on the big board of directors. What does it mean for the sport, and what does Liberty need to do to improve MotoGP? There's also a full review of the Italian Grand Prix, as Marc Marquez dominated the weekend with pole, a Sprint Win, and after a heated early skirmish, a comfortable Grand Prix win too, pulling away from Alex Marquez, with Pecco Bagania dropping to fourth after cooking his rear tyre in the back half of the race. Does it feel like the title race is over already?! In any case, it's 93 for 93.  There's also a chat about Pecco's struggles, the new Maroon Ducati's, the Twitter beef between Dre over Alex Marquez's raccraft, and Franco Morbidelli riding through KTM's Maverick Vinales. 

Oh boy, everyone's getting their first oval wins this year. Kyle Kirkwood is becoming a real problem.  Dre, RJ and special guest Ryan Erik King review what was one of the best IndyCar races of 2025, the Bonmarito Auto 500 from WWT/Gateway Raceway. And in a race that was defined by a huge Josef Newgarden/Louis Foster wreck, it was Kyle Kirkwood who took his 3rd win of the season and his first on an oval race, just like Alex Palou did back in May.  The trio also break down the state of the title picture as Pato O'Ward's second place makes me a realistic three horse race, Christian Rasmussen becoming IndyCar's Mr Excitement with a spectacular podium finish for ECR Racing, and has David Malukas let his huge opportunity slip to join Team Penske? All that and more on another M101!

Sometimes, the story writes itself. On the face of it, a strange Le Mans. No major wrecks. Just one Safety Car in 24 hours of racing, and just a handful of Full Course Yellows. A Hypercar distance record, the second fastest race on average speed since the series moved on from LMP1... and yet, you've probably read the headlines. Robert Kubica, spearheading the timing sheets and the lap counter, led the AF Corse "privateer" Ferrari to glory, their third Le Mans win in a row, and with Ye Yifei and Phil Hanson in tow, Poland and China's first overall winners, period. RJ O'Connell, Cam Buckley, Dre Harrison and returning guest Ryan Erik King all break down a polarising Le Mans. Despite just the second closest ever finish on time, it was a Le Mans that Ferrari never really felt like they could lose, given they were in 1-2-3 vicegrip on the standings for a good 12 hours of the race, with only the #6 Porsche of Estre, Vanthoor and Campbell truly posing a threat. Was this good for the sport? Hard to say with the ACO

Just when you thought the title race was looking pencilled in, it takes another twist thanks to Lando Norris losing his patience. Dre, Cam and a returning RJ O'Connell sit down to talk the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, as George Russell would take complete control of the weekend, and winning from pole, holding off a stalemate of pace and early attacks from Max Verstappen, his teammate Kimi Antonelli, and arguably the most vulnerable McLaren have looked all season, marking the first time in 11 races in 2025 that the Papaya failed to take a spot on the podium.  But we all know why you're here - Lando Norris driving into the back of Oscar Piastri and taking him out with just four laps to go. A loss of patience? Another Norris mental fight? Does he have to be something he's not in order to win a Championship? There's also a huge amount of residual news - The protest that was thrown out, as well as the suspension of steward Derek Warwick for taking bookmaker money for his opinions, the 9-year extension to the race it

Sometimes, the simple answer is the correct answer. And at Aragon, Marc Marquez was perfect.  Dre and Cam review what was a dominant Aragon weekend from #93, leading every single timed session across the weekend for the first time since Marc did it himself in Germany 2015. Even with a tricky GP25 bike, and a poor Sprint start, Marc never really looked like losing. The boys review that, the 32-point lead in the standings between Marc and his brother, the now 93-point gap between himself and Pecco Bagnaia, and whether the Italian's made the breakthrough via a brake swap of all things. There's also the latest from Pedro Acosta and another round of inconsistency at KTM, the possibility that Herve Poncheral might be selling up across the road at Tech3, and the latest news that Toprak is finally heading to MotoGP with Pramac for 2026, and what that may entail!

Welcome to IndyCar's post-500 Hangover, as the series headed to the streets of Detroit, and where Kyle Kirkwood dominated the streets to take his second win of 2025, and making it so IndyCar's only had two winners in seven races for the first time since Champ Car's Sebastien Bourdais and AJ Allmendinger did it in 2006. The big news? Alex Palou put in the wall by David Malukas to reduce the Spaniard's title lead to a mere...90 points. Dre, Cam and RJ breakdown that, as well as Kirkwood's dominance, the variance in strategy, and the glaze in the air as Santino Ferrucci went off-sequence to pick up his best ever result in the series, a second place finish.  Also on the bill, Penske's beef as Scott McLaughlin took out Nolan Siegel, leading to his biggest endorser Tony Kanaan to exchange barbs on Twitter, and a huge wreck between Felix Rosenqvist and Louis Foster, with the latter having a suspension fail at 185mph down the main straight in a terrifying wreck. And finally, a look-in at Indy NXT, with Dennis Hauge

Oh Maximilian, you did it again... Dre, Cam and RJ return to talk about the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, and there was one massive, overwhelming Championship flashpoint. Forget Oscar Piastri's 5th win of the season, this weekend will be known as the race where Max Verstappen suffered an industrial bout of headloss, driving into the side of George Rusell's Mercedes. He was given a 10-second penalty and dropped to 10th from 4th as a result. But was that enough? Was it a deliberate accident from the reigning Champion? We also ponder if Red Bull have to take a degree of accountability for the clash, as well as asking if the stewards and their new racecraft rules are also a part of the problem. Yes, it's a full deep dive over here! We also talk Ferrari's struggles, the Championship state of play as Flexi-Wings turned out to be a complete non-starter, and Nico Hulkenberg, who somehow finished 5th, IN A SAUBER. 

It's been another hectic week in the land of MotoGP, and it's time for Dre and Cam to review a time period where for once, we got it right on the timing via Jorge Martin! First up, the news that Jorge Martin doubled down on his threat to leave Aprilia and that as it stands, he's set to leave them at the end of 2025. It shows the two sides are refusing to budge, with Aprilia claiming that the injuries to Martin this season render his release clause null and void. What happens next between the two sides? We try to speculate. Marco Bezzecchi also won a chaotic MotoGP race at Silverstone, with Fabio Quartararo suffering a heartbreaking defeat via his rear ride-height device failing. And that was on the second attempt after oil on track and crosswinds had BOTH Marquez brothers crashing. There's a review of all the crazy action, as well as a discussion as to why moving Silverstone to May didn't work, and is Toprak finally heading to MotoGP?

Going to go out on a limb here and suggest the new plan didn't go so well... Dre, RJ and Cam discuss the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, as Lando Norris turned over the fastest lap in track history and handled the inevitable traffic to take a comfortable victory and reduce his Championship arrears to just three points heading into a critical race in Spain this weekend. But the big talk was the mandatory pitstops. The FIA implemented two mandatory pitstops across the 78 laps, and it led to some action that some called farcical. With Racing Bulls figuring out the gameplan was simply "back the wagon up and let your teammate get a free stop", they managed to get both cars well into the points, with Williams and Mercedes following suit, including George Russell intentionally cutting the chicane and picking up a Drive Through Penalty.  Did it work? And if it didn't, what do we do with Monaco at large? Do we move on from the race after being on the calendar since Day 1? Do we just accept that there's no salvaging this pl

Dear God, he actually did it. After all the fuss, all the jokes that the Indy 500 was the missing piece, and the near-misses that had held him back, Alex Palou finally did it and won the Indy 500 at his sixth attempt, and has arguably reached immortality in the realm of IndyCar. Dre, Cam and RJ sit down to discuss just how Palou did it, holding off the likes of Marcus Ericsson in the Andretti, David Malukas' Foyt car, and another near-miss from Pato O'Ward's McLaren... and that was before the triple DQ of Ericsson, Illot and Kirkwood that had them sent to the back of the field! We also talk about the FOX broadcast, and one where we can't deny it was successful - 7,080,000 viewers making it the most watched Indy 500 since reuinification, and with more viewers than Daytona of the same year.  And finally, what next for Palou in the series, and his outright legacy in total? All that and more on a heaped 500 review... hold onto your weenies. 

Sorry this came so late again, it's been a tricky schedule for me at the moment - Dre Dre, Cam and RJ sit down to review a pretty solid final goodbye to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. And it was GT Tester turned F1 driver Franz Hermann Max Verstappen who sent it around the outside of polesitter Oscar Piastri on the opening corner and never really looked back after that!  It marked the first real weekend of the year where Red Bull looked on par with the McLaren on sheer pace alone, and it didn't help when McLaren dropped Piastri at the back of a DRS train, allowing Max to ease into an easy 1-stopper, especially when Esteban Ocon's Haas died on the side of the road bringing out a VSC. We break down whether it's a sign that Red Bull might be back in the game, and McLaren's strange race. There's also chat on Williams getting into the Top 5 again, and Ferrari's comeback after a Double Q2 elimination. There's also talk about the end of Imola as a GP venue, and a catch up on FIA President Mohammed Ben Su

This was meant to be one of the biggest weekend's and stories of the year. Robert Shwartzman takes a 5,000/1 shot to become just the third rookie ever to take pole position for the greatest spectacle in racing. The first rookie to do it in 42 years, and the first new team to do in 43 years. In a world of Motorsport's dominance being well known in 2025, this was awesome... Until, less than 24 hours later, all hell breaks loose as Team Penske's Josef Newgarden and Will Power are sent to the back of the grid, their crew chiefs are banned for the rest of the event and $200,000 worth of fines. Why? Penske's been running with a modified rear attenuator unit, a part of the safety cell that had been smoothed out, for reasons Penske claim were purely "asthetic". Didn't help that people noticed the same smoothed out unit was seen on Josef Newgarden's 2024 Indy 500 winning car.   Roger Penske then decided to clean out his entire IndyCar senior management - including Tim Cindric, 26-year veteran of the team, and Ron Ru

Safe to say, it's going to be a busy week of IndyCar Podcasts. In this special recorded last week, we talk all about the last two IndyCar race weekends - Barber and the GP of Indy, that shared one thing in common, Alex Palou running through the field like crazy. It gives him a 97-point lead in the standings after just five races, and well, the field is starting to turn on him. After a smattering of boo's as he competed with Graham Rahal at the GP of Indy, Dre, Cam and RJ discuss the state of the series and how it handles its first truly dominant Champion of its modern age. Is it the Spanish in Palou that's causing the tension? Is it the culture of America and how it handles dominance in sport? Is it the racing product itself and it's lack of action that's building up the resentment? All that and more in a special, alternative edition of Motorsport101!