Motorsport101

Now included: A Bonus segment on the Romain Grosjean to Juncos move and Callum Illot's departure is covered in here too! But Dre and RJ go in-depth on the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix, and for Checo, a lot of genuine hope was extinguished in just 15 seconds after a nasty accident at Turn 1 when trying to send it for the lead of the race! And with AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo having his best F1 weekend since his McLaren win, is there even more pressure on the Mexican to win after his hometown failure? We also talk about Aston Martin's struggles too, with their worst weekend of the year cementing a tough post-Zandvoort stretch of just 17 points in their last 4 weekends. And with rumours spinning around in the air regarding their future, do questions need to be asked about the Silverstone team? Is Fernando walking away? Surely not again... ...All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Safe to say this wasn't your standard weekend. F1 returned to the United States this weekend for its first Sprint Weekend and it indirectly led to some madness after the race. On the track, Max Verstappen tied his own record with his 15th win of 2023, but was pushed to the limit when nursing a braking problem as Lewis Hamilton was chasing him down at the end. All this off the back of a Mercedes team that botched their strategy after not being sure about whether they wanted to run a 1-or-2 stop strategy and it may have cost them their first win... ...Only for them to be disqulaified, alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for having their floors too low tot nhe ground and losing too much wear from their skid block. This led to a big debate about the FIA's scrutineering process and whether it's fair or not that only four cars (Verstappen and Norris' being the other) got their skid block spot checked. Is this okay? Or does it expose a flaw in the system? Some of the more under the radar drives like Yuki Tsunoda'

And here's Part 2 of our little catch-up as the MotoGP travelling circus headed to Indonesia for its second GP at Mandalika Bay! And with it, another shocking twist in the title fight! Jorge Martin dominates the Sprint and was leading the GP by three seconds when going offline at Turn 10 led to him to the ol; Ducati: Death, Taxes, Tuck The Front moment. Ouch. It led to Francesco Bagnaia becoming the first man in 17 years to win a MotoGP race from the 5th row of the grid after qualifying struggles. Does anyone want to win this title? We also had the rumours out of the Honda camp that Miguel Oliveira may end up at Repsol Honda over Johann Zarco and the ramifications that come with a Honda camp now in full rebuild. And we also talk about an excellent written piece and the rumour that Dorna Sports may be sold by their parent company in the near future. Does the sport have a marketing problem? (Yes.) All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Okay, some cleanup to take care of here first! Firstly, massive thanks to Lyla Oakes who let us use her Marc Marquez x Gresini Concept Art, she’s the best and we love her! Also, sincere apologies for the delay on this episode, we had some technical problems cleaning up the audio on the backend, so forgive us - If you’re a MotoGP fan, you’ll be getting a lot of content in the coming days! In this episode, Dre and Cam make sense of one of the biggest MotoGP rider moves ever as Marc Marquez announced he’d be leaving Honda to head to Gresini and Ducati for 2024. We try to make sense of it from all the possible angles. What does it mean for Marc Marquez after 4 years of hell at Repsol Honda? What about Ducati, do they actually want him long-term or do they still see him as a threat? What about Honda, can they now finally have a rebuild with the lack of pressure behind them? And what about the sport as a whole? We also talk about Japan, and a race that was shortened by torrential rain. Jorge Martin doubled up an

Qatar, one of the maddest weekends in F1 history for all the wrong reasons. We had Pirelli discovering that the FIA's new Pyramid Kerb was harming the construction of the tyre, leading to a gamechanger as the track was reduced in width on the fast Turn 12/13 complex by almost three feet, leading to an insane rise in track limits violations, and a race that was a 3-stop mandated sprint with an 18-lap limit on tyre life, regardless as to if they were used or new. It led to another Max Verstappen win, his 14th of the season, but a close fight with McLaren became the story, despite track limit violations out the ass. But the race went without a tyre issue, it was another problem that reared its ugly head - Extreme heat. The race was run at 33-degree heat with 77% humidity and it led to health issues everywhere. Stroll and Russell admitted to nearly passing out behind the wheel. Logan Sargeant had to retire due to a mix of dehydration and flu symptoms. Albon had acute heat exposure. Bottas called it torture. Dre

Was it really Palou-over if it never really began? Welcome to the 2023 IndyCar Season Review, and in this special 130 minute edition of the show, we break down the best and the worst of IndyCar in 2023! Dre is joined by regular RJ O'Connell and Ryan Erik King to go team by team up and down the paddock. From the struggle buses of AJ Foyt and Meyer Shank's disasterous 2023, to the more intriguing teams too. Was it really a good season for Juncos Hollinger, as well as the hot mess of their season finale. Just what is Ed Carpenter going to do with his race team and a Rinus Veekay being lost in the shuffle? Can Rahal Letterman Lanigan hold onto Christian Lundgaard, who drove like a star last season. How did McLaren go winless on the year? How did Andretti win twice and still feel like a disappointment? Is it the beginning of the end for Will Power? And how did Scott Dixon put together an all-time great season and STILL lose by 78 points? All that and much, much more in our 2023 IndyCar Season Review!

We weren't sure days out from the race itself whether this one was even going to happen. But it did. Dorna's first venture to India for the India GP, and while we joked in the intro about the Miami Dolphins putting 70 on the Broncos head, Marco Bezzecchi was running a similar beating of his own on the MotoGP field, because he DOMINATED at the Buddh International Circuit. Winning by nearly 9 seconds on the field, he's firmly put himself back in contention... ...via Francesco Bagnaia hitting the canvas for the first time in a while. With it, and Jorge Martin finishing 2nd while nearly passing out from heatstroke, it's just a 13 point Championship fight, with Bez back in the running at -44. The Italian looked uncomfortable out there and squirmed under braking even before he crashed. Is Bagania vulnerable? We also talk about the mess that was organising this GP in the first place. VISA's being scrambled at the last minute to fly press, staff, and even riders themselves to the track at the very last minute, a tr

Congratulations to Red Bull Racing for winning F1 Championship Number 74, it is their sixth Superbowl win. It's coronation time at Red Bull after Max Verstappen took his Singapore defeat personally and won the Japanese GP by 20 seconds ahead of a double McLaren podium of Norris and Piastri. But it was marred by Sergio Perez stinking up the joint again, breaking two front wings, passing under a Safety Car and eventually crashing out to Kevin Magnussen. Is HE the secret bottleneck for Red Bull's driver management? We also try to make sense of the evolving fight for second as Mercedes cross paths via some weird George Russell strategy shenangians, Ferrari being undercut (Again), and McLaren scoring their five podium in the last 7 weekends. Big Larry Bird: "So which one of y'all are finishing second?" energy.

I love that Singapore just ended up being a Red Bull-themed episode, even if Carlos Sainz won a classic GP to end Red Bull's 15-race winning streak! But yeah, did we mention Red Bull DIDN'T win! It was a brilliant finale to an intriguing tactical race in Singapore as the unique nature of the track and setup concerns for the energy drink firm opened the door for Carlos Sainz to win from pole and dictate the terms of engagement. We talk how he used 2nd place runner Lando Norris as a "pick" to make sure he could hold off the 2-stopping Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. And that was before Russell hit the wall on the final lap to cost himself another podium. We also talk the confusing situation at AlphaTauri as Liam Lawson continues to make headlines, this time with his first Q3 appearance and P9 finish, Alpha's best of the year. With Daniel Ricciardo still not 100% fit and Yuki Tsunoda controversially seemingly at the front of the queue, who should be in their seats... and why is Sergio Perez off

It wouldn't be an IndyCar season without an absolute mess of a finale! In a 95-lap race at Laguna Seca in Monterrey, we had 35 laps of caution over eight separate incidents, 17 penalties handed out, 8 of which were for avoidable contact, and race winner Scott Dixon won despite having to do a drive-through penalty after less than 10 laps. Make it make sense. Well, the boys will certainly try to do just that as they break down while trying to break down the Laguna Seca race as IndyCar's season finale. Was this a good or bad example of a s***show race? Was the track partially to blame? And is it wild if a pace car has to get refuelled in the middle of a race? We also talk about the Leader's Circle payout system as Agustin Canapino and Juri Vips both earned their team over a million bucks after scraping into the Top 22 and how Devlin, didn't. It's a wild story within a wild race! And finally... should IndyCar have an all-star race? The series is adding a new $1m dollar challenge at The Thermal Club for 2024, a

This was a bizarre episode to record, because how often does the race itself take a complete back seat? (No, not Catalunya) But the main event was another Marc Marquez crisis meeting as the rumours really started to fly around that a Gresini Ducati might be on the table. The talk has cooled somewhat, but with Marquez not happy about his first run of the 2024 Honda, he's opened the door for the first time on the record that he may bail early. Is it panic stations for Honda? We also had Jorge Martin take a dominant double win over the weekend with completely insane pace, ahead of a mangled hand thayt belonged to Marco Bezzecchi, and a Francesco Bagania that finished third despite barely being able to walk just 7 days after being run over! And don't forget that Dani Pedrosa was back with a pair of 4th places too! Some impressive performances all round, and a warning ahead of India next week, all on another Motorsport101!

The coronation of IndyCar's returning King. Alex Palou dominated Portland for his 5th win of the 2023 IndyCar series and his second Astor Cup in three years, with Scott Dixon the only man in the same postcode! We break down Portland as a race and talk about the brilliance of Palou's season. We also talk Romain Grosjean, with it all but confirmed the Frenchman will be leaving Andretti at the end of the season. How did it all go so wrong for one of the genuine feel good stories in Motorsport? We also talk the relegation battle. No, not Burnley and Everton - Tjhe fight for the 22nd place of the Leader's Circle, with potentially big ramificaitons for those outside of the guaranteed $1m bucks of funding that comes with it! All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Content Warning: A fatal incident is discussed in this episode. Be careful. Not going to lie folks, this isn't the easiest of listens, as Dre Cam and RJ review the Catalunya GP, with a shocking first lap incident where Francesco Bagnaia miraculously went practically uninjured after being run over at Turn 2 by Brad Binder. There was also a six rider pileup into Turn 1 as Enea Bastianini broke his ankle after tucking his front. This is one of those: "What the hell are we doing here?" kind of episodes where we break down the accident, discuss some of the harrowing broadcast footage and wonder just how lucky we got, as well as the general state of the sport. We also breakdown the aftermath as Aleix Espargaro won in Aprilia's banner day in MotoGP, with Maverick Vinales close behind for a 1-2 finish, and Miguel Oliviera finishing in the Top 5 too. Is there something in the other Italian brand? All that and more on another Motorsport101.

Sometimes you have to give it the ol' college try. And it's hard to argue that Carlos Sainz didn't give it a bloody good go. The 14 laps Carlos led against Max Verstappen at Monza was the most anyone's managed against Red Bull this season. He's now third on the laps led count for the season after just one race. He tried. He failed, but man Ferrari was fun, with Carlos desperately defending himself against Red Bull and his own teammate Charles Leclerc to finish third. But should Ferrari have let them race? We also discuss Max Verstappen's record-breaking 10th consecutive win, and the, rather sassy statements from the Mercedes camp on the matter, with Hamilton taking barbs on Max's teammates, Max saying Lewis is jealous, and Toto Wolff saying winning records are for Wikipedia users. Y'know, the world's 7th most visited website. We also talk Williams. Alex Albon is flying after another points finish, the first time he's gone back-to-back since joining them. But after another sloppy race from Logan Sargeant,

Scott Dixon won an Oval Race by 22 seconds. Why? Because Scott Dixon, that's why. It was a staretgic and fuel saving masterclass from the IndyCar legend as literally no-one else could run his strategy enroute to his second straight win, and the first man to beat Josef Newgarden on an oval in a calendar year. And most importantly, keeps his slim title hopes alive. And yes, we talk Josef Newgarden, who finally lost his oval winning streak and ended his title campaign after getting caught in the marbles and hitting the wall. Is it frustrating that the Indy 500 will go a fourth straight year without an Astor Cup. Weird. We also joke about the upcoming beef between disowned Bus Cousin David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson completing his move to Andretti Autosport in another IndyCar edition of Motorsport101

The racing Gods were determined to stop Verstappen's winning streak after two deluges of rain during the Dutch Grand Prix. And Max decided to beat them too. Another moment of history for the World Champion as he became just the third person in F1 to ever win nine races in a row and just the second to do it in the same season. Can anything stop him from closing out the season? We also break down who made the best and the worst of the wet conditions. Pierre Gasly shocked everyone with a podium from 12th on the grid, Sergio Perez slipped out of the podium spots, Alonso's back in 2nd, and McLaren had Lando Norris miss his rain switch again. A familiar tale. And what the hell were Mercedes doing? And what is going on at AlphaTauri - Liam Lawson coming in at the 11th hour to replace a now-injured Daniel Ricciardo after breaking his metacarpal in his hand. Will this have an effect on Red Bull's driver scouting?! All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Sorry this was a little late, editor Dre's been ill for a little bit with a chest infection! But here's a mid-season F1 review, but not as we know it! It was RJ's idea to have a special buy-or-sell edition of an F1 mid-season review! Because saying Max Verstappen wins, lol for 50 minutes wouldn't be very interesting! So we came up with a bunch of semi-interesting F1 takes and Dre and RJ would decide what to buy and what to sell on the statement. There's some fun ones in there! Such as: - “The team with the greatest upside in the Formula One paddock, right now, is Williams Racing.” - “Nico Hulkenberg is a Driver of the Year contender.” - “Who cares if Formula 1’s surge of fan interest is waning after the DTS boom or that American interest has peaked? The sport has thrived through the strength of its hardcore fans, not its casual supporters, and has done so without any significant American presence for years - F1 doesn’t need any of it in the future.” See what I mean? Dre and RJ review F1 in 2023 so far in

It's happened again. Alex Palou has caused another big contract dispute, or it's continued on from last year depending on who you ask - And we called in our super-sub Ryan Erik King to fill in for Cam Buckley to try and make sense of this hot mess. So the latest chapter of the Palou dispute has now had the Champion-Elect Spaniard tell Zak Brown he's backing out of his agreement to join McLaren in 2024 despite having an agreement in place. It's caused yet more tension as Zak's kicked up a stink and ran to Jenna Fryer, Chip Ganassi has commented on the story for the first time ever and rips into McLaren, and even Palou's old management has severed ties with Palou as a fall out of the drama. What the fuck is going on here and what the heck happens next?! We also talk about the Gallagher GP of last weekend and Scott Dixon shocked the world to pull off the Spin-And-Win from the back of the field and the opening lap of the race to win by getting back on sequence via a 2-stopper in a race of 3's. And he had to sto

IndyCar is often full of surprises. Just when you think Nashville was going to be another crash-fest, third time was the charm and everyone largely behaves themselves. At the front, a game of strategy was in order as Kyle Kirkwood in combination with team strategist Bryan Herta outworked pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin and passed him in the pits and never looked back to his second win of the season. And hosts Dre Harrison, Cam Buckley and RJ O'Connell breakdown just how we got there. We also have to talk about Alex Palou again, who being caught dead to rights on a strategy that was going to have him run out of fuel, only for the late cautions to save him in 3rd! And we also talk Simon Pagenaud's future. Linus Lundqvist filled in for the 5th race that Simon's missed in his Meyer Shank drive since his horrifying brake failure at Mid-Ohio. Is he healthy enough to return? Or is this another Kurt Busch situation? And finally, is Nashville (now including Broadway), a good fit for the series new decider?

What do you mean Francesco Bagnaia didn't win a last lap decider again? Welcome to the Motorsport101 British GP Podcast Review, with a difference! You get to hear from Dre, who was there in person covering the event on the behalf of M101, The Race and as a guest of Monster Energy! From interviewing some of the best bike riders in the world to a sit down with Randy Mamola, Dre goes in detail about what it's like to cover a MotoGP race in person! Also, Aleix Espargaro won the race in dramatic, final lap, rain-affected fashion, from 12th on the grid! We go into detail about a superb fight for the win, a big crash for Marco Bezzecchi, and why can't Aprilia do this more often after all four of their bikes hit the Top 10 for the first time ever! We also talk some big silly season news as Marco has a big decision to make about his future Ducati and the ramifications that could come from it - Is Zarco going to Honda? And where does Franco Morbidelli end up as Alex Rins heads to Yamaha across enemy lines? And fin