The big one. The season preview to end all season previews. It’s Formula 1 2022, and we have no idea what’s really about to happen! And that’s great!

We try our very best to go team by team as we pick apart testing and multiple other factors as we try to guess how we think 2022’s F1 season will play out. New cars, some old faces, and a potential three-way title decider.

Haas had to dump Nikita Mazepin at the 11th hour and Kevin Magnussen is back, a real upgrade for the American team. Alfa Romeo were probably the biggest strugglers in testing but have a genuinely great driver in Bottas. And how will Zhou get on? And how about Williams now Alex Albon is back to spearhead the team… and have they put out that brake fire yet?

The midfield is anyone’s guess. Aston Martin look like the same team they were before. AlphaTauri have question marks over Yuki Tsunoda’s form and a car heavily “porpoising”. Alpine struggled in the test to the point where Fernando Alonso questioned the confidence in his car. And then McLaren’s Bahrain test collapsed, and this was before Daniel Ricciardo caught COVID.

And then there’s the Big 3. Ferrari became Champions of the Pre-Season in a suspiciously strong test, but can their two excellent drivers co-exist? Red Bull laid down a statement of intent right at the end of testing with some fast glory runs and a very stable looking car, right alongside Mercedes “porpoising” to all hell, causing controversy by “not running sidepods”, and Lewis Hamilton already thinking they’re not challenging for wins… yet. Who’s lying?

We try and make sense of it all in a 90 minute special Motorsport101!

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After 15 years of struggles, difficulty, and tragedy, Gresini is back. This one was for Fausto. For the first time since that legendary day in Estoril in 2006, Gresini Racing wins in MotoGP and history was made as Enea Bastianini shocked the world and gave us the sport’s first ever female team principal win!

We break down the unlikely win… and beyond, with Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro completing a podium that I don’t think anyone could have predicted going in. But there are rumblings beneath it all, with Gresini winning on the 2021 Ducati, while Pramac struggled on the 2022 bike, and Ducati’s factory were nowhere… with a hybrid of the two? This wasn’t the plan, and we discussed whether that’s good for business!

We also talked about the good ol’ vibe check. Yamaha’s feared struggles in testing were very much true, with Fabio Quartararo beaten to the line in 9th, Morbidelli 11th, and the customer bikes barely fighting for points. And what about Suzuki, who looked astonishing in practice, but struggled in race trim. We break that down too!

We also had Dennis Foggia and more drama in Moto3, as stewarding reared its ugly head again. Weaving on straights only hit with minor penalties with last year’s horror crash at COTA still fresh in the memory. Has the sport gone backwards in their stewardship? And are their solutions to be found?

All of that and more in an emotional, in-depth Motorsport101!

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IndyCar is back baby! And we got a fascinating return for the series in St Petersburg (FLORIDA), last weekend, as Scott McLaughlin, a man who was 60/1 going into the weekend, would win from pole, despite just about every usual IndyCar shenanigans being thrown at him.

From backmarker traffic, to cautions and a charging Alex Palou right at the end, we talk at length about the development and “project” of Scotty Mac in IndyCar and ponder whether this is a sign of things to come with the amount of faith that Team Penske has put in him.

We talk at length about the state of blue flags in the series after we saw dramatic blocking from Jimmie Johnson (Who totally wasn’t helping Alex Palou out), and Devlin DeFrancesco right at the end that gave Palou a couple of extra chances to close right in at the end. And to be honest, we wanted an excuse to poke some fun at another classic Will Power media rant after the race. But did he have a point? Should IndyCar’s “advisory” Blue Flag rule be changed?

We talk some of the surprises of the first time seeing the 2022 cars driven in anger. From a return to form for Rinus Veekay, Dalton Kellett nearly eliminating the reigning Champion in Round 1 of Qualifying… and everything on our mans, King Kirkwood!

All of that and more in our IndyCar St. Pete Report!

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