Motorsport101

First of all, sincere apologies, this took about two weeks longer than we would have liked, a combination of commitments from our man RJ, me coming down with a cold, and Cam coming down with COVID meant this got pushed back a little bit. Won't happen again, I promise, and sorry for the wait - Dre It's time to review one of the greatest seasons of IndyCar ever... if you're Alex Palou that is! It's hard to ignore the elephant in the room when one man dominates so thoroughly, but we still have 26 more drivers to review as well! We go team-by-team across IndyCar to bring you what worked and what didn't from their 2025 season. From Prema and their very existence coming under question, to RLL and their contiuned struggling, and whether Mick Schumacher may be coming to town. There's also more on the disaster that was Penske 2025, Meyer Shank returning to the top-tier of the sport, and a new era for Andretti as their starboy Colton Herta heads for Europe. Sincere thanks to everyone who's listened to our IndyCar co

Just when you thought this season was done throwing up surprises - Fermin Aldeguer becomes MotoGP's first rookie winner since Jorge Martin in 2021! It was an unpredictable weekend in Mandalika for the Indonesian GP, and Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi had more pace than he knew what to do with. He nearly botched te Sprint but came back from 6th on the opening corner to win it on the final lap. But a huge crash with Marc Marquez in the Grand Prix's opening lap left the path clear for Fermin Aldeguer to dominate proceedings - A win by seven seconds for one of the biggest in 2025. Dre breaks down what it means for Fermin's star status, Bez's impact, and Gresini as a whole, who have now won with every rider they've had in the "Padovani" era of the team, and crew chief Frankie Carchedi's fourth different winning rider he's partnered with.  We also talk Marc Marquez being injured for the Australian and Malaysian GP's, Pecco Bagnaia's new nadir after crashing from last in the race fresh off his Japanese win, and Manu G

A surprisingly loaded episode of the Podcast off the back of a relatively tame GP. Funny how these things happen. With RJ on the way to Atlanta for Petit Le Mans, Dre and Cam have you covered for F1's latest Singapore GP, and it was a dramatic one in some strange ways. First of all, completely out of nowhere, George Russell dominated the weekend to take his second victory of 2025. To follow that up, Max Verstappen was able to hold off Lando Norris for second place under immense pressure. But not before another inevitable internet debate about Papaya Rules and McLaren's drivers. Lando Norris was boxed in against Max Verstappen's Red Bull and Oscar Piastri's McLaren at Turn 3, and made contact with Piastri on the outside. Piastri complained and called for a position swap, and was denied by McLaren. Is this the end of Papaya Rules, hypocrisy from McLaren's bosses, or much ado about nothing? There's also more on Alex Dunne walking away from McLaren's driver academy with a Red Bull deal in the works, Ferrari's

The inevitable finally happened. After 2,184 days, 4 surgeries, 2 bouts of Dipalopa and over 100 crashes, Marc Marquez wins his seventh MotoGP World Championship, and his ninth overall as a MotoGP rider. Dre, Cam and RJ breakdown what's made Marc Marquez's season so special, as well as the nature of his six-year long comeback and return to the top of the mountain. Is this one of the greatest comebacks ever seen in sport? And is Marc Marquez now the greatest of all-time?  There's also some tight ends to discuss from the weekend itself, and Pecco Bagnaia's perfect weekend to score his first victory since the Circuit of the Americas back in April. Is the former Champion finally back? There's a secret weapon revealed on the pod. There's also more on Joan Mir's first podium for Honda since Marquez's departure, and Miguel Oliveira on the move to World Superbikes and BMW. 

Just when you thought Max Verstappen was out of the title picture, McLaren gonna McLaren. Again. Dre and RJ are back to review the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Baku, and with it, a weekend that had McLaren score the least amount of points in a weekend since Las Vegas 2023.  There was a qualifying session with no less than SIX red flags, lasting 118 minutes as Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Charles Leclerc and Championship leader Oscar Piastri all crashing into a wall across the session. And with it, gift-wrapping Max Verstappen pole position by nearly half a second over Carlos Sainz (!!) and Liam Lawson.  In the race itself, a mach calmer affair. Piastri hits the anti-stall on a jumped start, and then goes into the Turn 5 wall to crash his second car of the weekend, and Max Verstappen goes onto to take a Grand Slam victory by 15 seconds over George Russell and Carlos Sainz, Williams first podium in over four years. With Max now just 69 points off the lead of the standings.

"They define themselves" - Marc Marquez Dre and Cam sit down for a heated and emotional Grand Prix weekend in Misano for the GP of San Marino. During it, Marc Marquez actually crashed during Saturday's Sprint Race, won by Marco Bezzecchi and led to a huge number of his and Valentino Rossi's fans booing as he hit the deck. Was that okay? Is booing in sport a fight worth having?  Marc would take revenge in the Grand Prix, in a dragged out war with Bez's Aprilia, with both men pushing to the absolute limit, but Marc ultimately came out on top, and with it, puts himself on the brink of his 9th World Championship. Also in the episode, more on Pecco Bagnaia's struggles, KTM and the story of three chains breaking on their bikes over the weekend, and the strange decisions from Liberty Media in regards to focusing on the Premier Class of MotoGP and pushing Moto2 and 3 into less air time, temporary garages, and a new MotoGP Hall of Fame that focuses on Premier Class achievement. Is that a good idea for the series in

Technically speaking, this means it's still been 105 days since a Marquez failed to win. Technically. It was a tale of two races in Barcelona, as Alex Marquez went from Zero-to-Hero, crashing out from a comfortable lead in the Sprint and gifting Marc Marquez his 15th consecutive win, before coming back on Sunday to take his second GP victory and beating older brother Marc straight up for the first time all season. The boys also review the rest of action, including Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha's soon-to-debut V4, Pecco Bagnaia and the latest in his struggles, and the changing face of MotoGP as Guenther Stiener becomes MotoGP's newest owner, leading a consortium to buy out Tech3 KTM for $20m. Is it a sign of things to come for the sport with F1 kicking the door down to invest? All that and more on a brand new Motorsport101!

We just can't have anything straightforward at McLaren can we? Dre, Cam and RJ are back to make sense of F1's latest trip to Monza's Cathedral of Speed and the 2025 Italian Grand Prix. One part was straight-forward and that was Max Verstappen, whose work with Red Bull's new floor and new low-downforce package led to the fastest lap and race in F1 history, a lap at 164mph, and a race that was over in just 73 minutes, at an averagew speed of 155!  But behind him, there was drama with the McLaren's running second and third. Lando Norris had a bad final stop via a faulty wheel gun, allowing Oscar Piastri to get back in front, only for McLaren to call for fairness, and to swap the drivers back around. Is this okay? Should McLaren aim for fairness with its riders, even with team orders on the table? And finally, is Stefano Domenicalli right for steering F1 towards "shorter attention-spans" in its younger audiences with radical ideas such as reverse grid sprint races, less practice time, or even shorting races

Just when you thought the title fight was reaching its climax... Dre and RJ Review the 2025 Dutch GP from Zandvoort, as Oscar Piastri lead from lights to flag in the Australian's first career Grand Slam victory., But right behind him, a severed oil line via Lando Norris' chassis lead to a DNF, and a 34-point mountain to climb for the British driver, meaning likely having to win at least 7 of the final 9 races to take the title. Can it be done? Further behind, it was a disaster day for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton crashed out running wide at Hugenholtz, only for teammate Charles Leclerc to be taken out laps later by a hard-charging Kimi Antonelli. Is the talk of Antonelli being dropped and his struggles becoming too big a deal?  Also, Isack Hadjar took advantage of a brilliant qualifying lap and Norris' blow-up to finish 3rd, his first podium in F1, and the 5th youngest driver ever to do so. Is he in line for a Red Bull promotion, and if so... does he even want it? All that and more on another Motorsport101!

We'll be honest, it's rare when IndyCar takes priority over F1 or MotoGP in this network. However, given all the bombshells coming out of the series that affects now only IndyCar, but potentially European Motorsport and F1, we thought we'd make an exception. Dre and RJ sit down to discuss the final round of the IndyCar season first, the Music City Grand Prix from Nashville Superspeedway. And it turned out to be a home win and a small season salvager for Josef Newgarden and Team Penske, taking just their second win of 2025 in an intense battle with Alex Palou (again), as well as teammate and ex-Bus Bro Scott McLaughlin. There's also the elements of some nasty blocking penalties, and Pato O'Ward's leading car suffering another Firestone tire blowout, the fifth of 2025. Awkward. But the bombshells have come since the race was over. Just yesterday at time of upload, Will Power announced he was quitting Team Penske after 17 years with the team, with the Australian seemingly heading to Andretti for 2026 replacing

Just when you thought you'd seen it all in IndyCar in 2025, an act of god led to a miraculous win for a driver many of us said should be parked after Portland! Dre, Cam and RJ review the 2025 Milwaukee Mile race, with Cam actually there in person and still recovering from how good the root beer was. He's also rather posiitve about the track's chances going forward given an improved turnout on 2024 and better side-attractions to get people through the door.  But with a very brief rain shower with just 40 laps to go, it led to the majority of the field pitting, and Christian Rasmussen using a 17-lap tire delta and incredibly reckless bravery working the high line to gun down Alex Palou and beat him for the win, with the Spaniard leading 199 out of 250 laps in defeat. Wild. We also talk more broadcasting issues for FOX, Dennis Hauger's future after winning the Indy NXT title, and iRacing producing an IndyCar video game for 2026. Enjoy!

What'chu know about seven? Pay me!  Dre, Cam and RJ are back with another biking edition of Motorsport101, as MotoGP headed to Balaton Park for the sport's first Hungarian Grand Prix for 33 years! And with it, a shocking result - Marc Marquez extending his winning streak to 14, winning both his 7th Sprint and GP in a row, and his 10th of 2025.  We talk about the biggest talking point of the weekend - Balaton Park itself, with much controversy over the tracks potential safety hazards and whether it should remain on the calendar for the long term. Dre, has a hot take, he doesn't hate it...  Of course beyond the obvious of Marquez's brilliance, we also talk about the other contenders around him. Marco Bezzecchi's fourth podium in his last five GP's as he cements himself as the sport's leading chaser. How Pedro Acosta recovered from a dreadful Saturday to a great Sunday. And how Fermin Aldeguer tried and failed to follow-up on his excellent Austrian weekend.  There's also a silly season review as Jack Miller

Our bikes is back! MotoGP finally returns after a three-week summer break, and the sport heading to Austria and the Red Bull Ring for Round 13 of 22, and the second verse was the same as the first for Marc Marquez who took his sixth Sprint and Grand Prix win in a row.  But again, it wasn't a straight forward story for Marc, who had to fight off a valiant effort from Marco Bezzecchi, who was at it again with his third podium in the last four races, and a surprise late onrush from Fermin Aldeguer who stormed through to second from ninth on the grid, and his career highest finish to date. But taking up another large chunk of the Podcast, was the struggles of Pecco Bagnaia, and a Sprint race where he had to park it due to what he claimed was a dud rear tyre, and a bullying off the road in the race where he dropped to eighth place. Just what is going on in his camp, with Pecco admitting that he's "running out of patience" with Ducati in the wait for answers. Code for something else, or just general frustration?

It was inevitable and we all saw it coming - But Alex Palou can finally say he's a four-time IndyCar Series Champion. Yes, it was a gift after Pato O'Ward's ECU burnt to a crisp, but it was all wrapped up in an intense decider in Portland as IndyCar heads towards the end of its 2025 season. Will Power did what he had to do at the front, using an alternate strategy and immense raw pace to leapfrog Felix Rosenqvist and then lead from the front, holding off Christian Lundgaard and an off-sequence Alex Palou at the end in a tense but ultimately futile final fight. Power wins to avoid Penske's first winless season since 1999, and questions remain asked - Is it time for Penske to move on from one its greatest drivers? There was also an intense fight between Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen that ended with Daly careening into the outside wall at over 100mph, and accusations that the Dane did it on purpose. But Dre argues it wasn't as simple as that and we'll debate that on the show. And finally, FOX now owns a

The Motorsport101 gang is back in full! Dre, Cam and RJ are back to make sense of a highly strategic and tense Hungarian Grand Prix, celebrating their 40th edition of the staple race on the calendar. (And Dre drops some important personal news) McLaren pulled off their fourth 1-2 finish in a row, the first time they've done so since Senna and Prost in 1988 - But it didn't come easy! Oscar Piastri had to deal with a resurgent return to form for Charles Leclerc, who led from pole for two-thirds of the race. Unfortunately for the Monaco man, a strange change in his car after the final round of stops crippled the Scuderia.  It also opened the door for Lando Norris to come back from fifth on the opening laps, run the optimal 1-stop strategy and come back to win, holding off Piastri at the end. Should McLaren be running both cars on the same strategy? Is it unfair? We also deep dive on that horrible stricken Ferrari and a calamitous weekend on the whole as Lewis Hamilton qualified and finished 12th and called hi

He's almost there. And in a near flawless fashion, Alex Palou put one hand and four fingers on the Astor Cup, with another dominating, suffocating display at Laguna Seca. And with his eighth win of the season, Palou is now chasing history, and one of the oldest records in North American Motorsport history. Dre and RJ review what was a comprehensive beating of the field, ahead of Christian Lundgaard's McLaren and Colton Herta's Andretti, and what it'll take for Palou to win the title in Portland this weekend, a track he's won at twice before.  There's also a chat about some of the mishaps in the field, such as Simpson and Rosenqvist's Lap 1 tangle, and the continued incompetence of IndyCar's stewarding, with Rinus Veekay and Marcus Ericsson left vulnerable on track for nearly two minutes each as the series was reluctant to throw the caution. 

Apologies this was a day later than planned. Safe to say, something came up. - Dre Dre and RJ sit down to review Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix and it was a race heavily affected by rain, and opinions on what to do with said rain. Oscar Piastri won a pretty comfortably wet to dry game of tyre conservation as Lando Norris had to over-drive his McLaren on Hards just to keep it close. But it was an 80-minute delay for rain that had people talking about whether F1 is trying to phase out wet running altogether. But is it more complicated than that, with the tyres, and the spray all being potential factors? There's also the small news that Max Verstappen is staying with Red Bull for 2026, with George Russell now suddenly on the brink of signing his own two-year extension with Mercedes for 2027. The pair evaluate the lay of the land and ponder whether Kimi Antonelli might be the man sacrificed instead.  All that, and more including Hamilton's comeback through the pits, why Pierre Gasly might be the sport's most u

Well, that was a race where you may have needed a degree if Mathematics to figure out what was happening. Unfortunately for Dre, his was in Broadcast Journalism.  Anyway, Dre, Cam and RJ review IndyCar's 40th Anniversary of the streets of Toronto, and it took a spirited effort from Pato O'Ward, the right level of aggression and a little bit of strategic fortune for him to take his second victory in a week and hit a huge three to cut his Championship deficit down to 99. I know, huge implications, etc. We also talk the contiuned struggles of Team Penske, after Scott McLaughlin's race lasted 5 minutes via a wheel that wasn't correctly attached, and Josef Newgarden crashing out yet again, this time being mounted unfortunately by Jacob Abel.  It was also a podium for the underdog, as Pato's glory was shared by a brilliant Rinus Veekay in second, Dale Coyne's first podium finish since David Malukas in Gateway 2022, andf Kyffin Simpson scored his first podium for Chip Ganassi Racing in third. But it makes you won

This is getting kinda one-sided, ain't it? Marc Marquez takes his fifth double victory in a row, and his eighth out of the 12 races in 2025 so far. And with his brother failing to score a point all weekend, it pushes his Championship lead up to 120 points. We went from the consistency of Alex being a title threat to pondering just how early Marc will wrap this up.  It wasn't straight forward though - We got another controversial Sprint as tyre pressures reared their ugly head and we saw both factory Dukes drop back on purpose... but should they have done? Turns out Dorna got their sums wrong. We also had a banner day for Aprilia, with Jorge Martin back and solid in 7th, Raul Fernandez finishing as top independent in 5th, and Marco Bezzecchi second for the second time in the last three weekends. Are they back? We also discuss a potential gamechanger for the sport, as the sport's factory suppliers team up to take on Dorna for a potential F1-style "Concorde Agreement" as they want a bigger slice of the sport's

Sorry this ended up more than a week off, been mad busy with the day job (Dre speaking), but here's a review of our Double Header from Iowa over in IndyCar. And it as a weekend centered around Josef Newgarden, in every sense. In an alternate universe, he probably wins both races as the clear class of field. But in a classic Penske in 2025 moment, he ends up with neither. In Race 1, Pato O'Ward overcuts him to get in front and stay there to win. And in Race 2, two awfully timed cautions boxed Newgarden into the midfield where he had to climb back out of, and could only manage 10th... WAIT, they let Alex Palou win on a short oval now too? Speaking of Newgarden, there's also a conversation around the idea that the hate he's getting from around IndyCar has gone too far. With FOX mocking him for not talking after sessions and interviews, to other journos looking for a pound of flesh, has the series drank too much of the haterade? All that and more on another M101!