“We just can’t beat this guy.”

Francesco Bagnaia right now, is that dude. MotoGP’s Grand Prix of San Marino had another outstanding final lap fight win, only this time, it was with his future teammate, Enea Bastianini! Just 0.034 seconds separating the pair over the line in the closest MotoGP race finish in over three years. We break down a colossal fight at the front and put into context just how much of a monster Enea Bastianini is around Misano.

It also gives us a look at the title fight. With Fabio Quartararo only 5th on the day, Bagnaia now has only 30 points to make up in the title race, and he now controls his own destiny. He has to win the final 6 in a row to do it for sure, but with him being the first Ducati rider to ever win 4 in a row, just how much is possible? And can he avoid tucking the front, the Ducati weakness? We break it down.

We also say goodbye to the legend that is 04, the great Andrea Dovizioso. Misano marked his final race and Dre and Cam reminisce over just how good a rider he was, the real kryptonite to Marc Marquez’s prime and hailing to being MotoGP’s “Professor”.

Speaking of, is Marc Marquez coming back early?

And finally, some grim news as the sport announced it’s going to be the latest series to take on Saudi Arabia in the future. We talk about the political influence the series is gathering and some of its hypocrisy in the news it wants more young women as fans. Just how problematic is it?

All that and more on another Motorsporrt101!

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Just what the IndyCar world needed – Another dominant New Zealander called Scott. But my goodness, he’s driving out of his skin at the moment. In IndyCar’s penultimate race of the year, it was Scott McLaughlin that kept his very thin chances of winning the Astor Cup alive with a lights-to-flag victory. Scott led 104 out of 110 laps and never really looked like losing. Is he the favourite for 2023?

We also give an extended deep dive into the three main contenders going into the season finale. Will Power, a man who’s come alive post Indy 500. 11 Top 4 finishes this season, and with a 2nd in Portland, remains in control with a 20 point lead. Will Power find a way to shrug off the concerns over his luck in title deciders?

Scott Dixon has been a model of consistency as well. His qualifying has been lacking but has always come back as a strong Sunday man. An average finish of under 7 is incredible. But if this doesn’t become Astor Cup #7 for the Kiwi, will his 1mph speed limit breach at the Indy 500 cost him everything for the season?

And then on the other end of the scale, Josef Newgarden. The first man to win 5 races in an IndyCar season since Simon Pagenaud in 2016. THE Oval driver of the season. At times, unstoppable, unfathomable pace. But also, some errors and some bad luck have scattered his season all over the map. Iowa 2’s broken car might have derailed his season without us realising it. Can he launch one final comeback?

We break it all down, as well as the Rookie of the Year fight, on Motorsport101!

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Zandvoort wasn’t terrible for Round 15 of the Formula 1 World Championship. We’ll take it. But this was a race where most of its drama happened OFF the track.

We talk about Max Verstappen’s 10th win of the season and the strategic battles that played out on the track, as well as the discussions off of it. Yuki Tsunoda suffers a complicated differential failure and everyone immediately screams conspiracy because it might help Max win the race… Only for Valtteri Bottas’ power unit to pack it in 5 laps later. Welp. That leads to Hannah Schmitz (Red Bull’s chief strategist) getting dogpiled on social media and more general toxicity. The boys go through the mess and try to make sense of it all.

We also talk about the biggest debate in global Motorsport right now – Should IndyCar’s Colton Herta get special dispensation from the FIA to be granted a super license so he can go to AlphaTauri? He doesn’t have the 40 points needed to race in F1 directly, but it’s now lead to huge debates on the Internet between F1 and IndyCar’s fans as to what requires you to be able to race in F1, and IndyCar’s place in the eyes of the FIA. Should Colton get a pass? We discuss why it’s a lot more complicated than you think.

And we finally get a settlement in the Oscar Piastri contract dispute as Mclaren won their case and announces him as Lando Norris’s new teammate. We discuss the landscape of the midfield after the announcement.

All that and more on another Motorsport101!

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It’s the return of the King! Ryan Erik King that is, the Jalopnik writer returns to the show for a one-off guest appearance!

And for the four of us, we sat around the table for a huge beat-em-down of massive proportions. as Max Verstappen absolutely dominated the Belgian Grand Prix. Despite engine penalties from nearly half the field making him start the race from 14th, he was leading by Lap 18, and would go on to win by 18 seconds.

And to make matters worse, his main title rival Charles Leclerc would have to settle for 5th, after one of Max’s tear-off’s inexplicably landed in his brake-cooling system, resulting in an extra pit-stop and a pit-lane speeding violation due to an over-heated sensor. Woof. Are we absolutely done title wise here? Surely we are, right?

We also talk some of that second-hand embarrassment of EIGHT drivers taking a power-unit penalty. Does the system need looking at again, or are we over-reacting again?

Also, Daniel Ricciardo is out of McLaren officially after being bought out of his contract a year early. We assess his future and McLaren’s future in their pursuit of Oscar Piastri and ask how much of their failure is ultimately on him.

And finally, we talk Spa’s future. It signed a one-year deal to stay on the F1 calendar for 2023, but in a world where France has been removed, rotational calendar spots are on the table, and China and Qatar coming back, are we looking at Spa being a stop-gap as it transitions into a part-time venue? More on that in another Motorsport101!

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Someone play the Jaws music, because Josef Newgarden is coming.

We’ve only got three rounds left of the IndyCar Series for 2022, and Josef Newgarden took his 5th win of the season at Gateway’s St Louis 500 to put himself just three points of the lead of the title race. But it very nearly didn’t happen! We had rain play a huge role in terms of strategy, one that took the fuel saving Will Power out of the picture. But it also gave rise to the rampant charge of David Malukas! Lithusania’s finest export went on a tear to nearly steal with dub, but still take a career high 2nd!

We break it all down, as well as Newgarden’s middle stint of the gods, as well as the future of ovals on the calendar, on Motorsport101!

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An earth-shattering announcement hitting MotoGP right on Austrian’s GP weekend, as the series announced from out of nowhere that they’ll be adding Sprint Races to EVERY MotoGP race weekend in 2023. They’ll be replacing the 4th practise session and it’s seemingly divided the entire sport. Riders like Marc Marquez are for it, but others like Fabio Quartararo aren’t. There’s even been talk of a riders union as a result of this. Dre and Cam do their best to try and make sense of all of it all.

We also had a race, and Francesco Bagnaia has now gone undefeated since becoming a criminal. Three on the bounce, but only minimal title damage as Fabio Quartararo *somehow* finished 2nd at a terrible Yamaha matchup. We talk about the state of play in the title race. And Jack Miller came 3rd, again!

We also break down the utter mess that is KTM. It seems like Miguel Oliveira might actually be staying after all, as Tech3 reboots to GasGas and announces Pol Espargaro as their lead rider. But this will likely come at the expense of both Remy Gardner AND Raul Fernandez, with the former probably not even being on the 2023 grid altogether. And with Augusto Fernandez in the thick of Moto2 title contention AND Pedro Acosta waiting in the wings, we ask, what the F*** KTM? All that and more on Motorsport101.

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We can finally say, it’s Stoffel Season again. And the man doesn’t even like waffles.

The Season Finale of Year 8 in Formula E hit us this past weekend in Seoul, South Korea and its first major Motorsport event in almost a decade. Anyone else remember Yeognam?

Anyway, we catch up a little bit on London, as Stoffel Vandoorne was in control of the Championship, and Mitch Evans and Edo Mortara were the only two men who could realistically stop him. So of course, Mitch takes Race 1 just to make it an absolute final race showdown. But not before a 7-car wreck on a wet track. Yikes.

But with Mitch qualifying badly in Race 2, it left the path to success clear for Stoffel to become Formula E’s third World Champion. We discuss the path to the title for Stoffel, and his main contenders in Mitch, who Mitched Dre’s last brah. And Edo Mortara. Remember when he had an 11-point lead in the Championship after Berlin?!

We also talk Seoul’s track, and the Olympic Stadium it was racing around. We’ll get over Ben Johnson’s infamous 100m and the involvement of “Balanced Breakfasts”. Was it conducive for good racing? Did it come off well on TV? Well…

And we look forward to the Gen 3 era of Formula E. This was the series 99th and 100th races in its history and we show some cautious optimism about where the series is heading, even with some concerns. There’s some silly season in there too with Lucas Di Grassi heading to Mahindra, and some rumours about the future of Nyck De Vries, Sergio Sette Camara and more.

All that and more on Motorsport101!

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