IndyCar finished its gauntlet run of back-to-back rounds with #BRIDGEWEEK! As the paddock returned to Music City, Nashville… for another shitshow.

A three hour long-race, a 90-minute rain delay, a red flag and EIGHT cautions, three men off the lead lap before the first round of stops, and in the end.. Scott Dixon wins. And not just any old win, his 53rd in IndyCar competition. A milestone to make him 2nd on the all-time winners list behind the great AJ Foyt. We discuss his title credentials with just three rounds left to go, with what we think may still be five men in the fight.

But we know what you’re truly here for. The Twitter beef between Romain Grosjean and… well, everyone else, after Josef Newgarden put him in the wall and went on a tirade at fans and Grosjean on social media, with Marcus Ericsson and others jumping in the pile. Was this Josef losing his rag? Heat of the moment? Or something more sinister with IndyCar’s attitude with F1 drivers coming over?

And finally, we talk about Nashville itself, a messy affair with several divebombs causing wrecks, nearly half the race under yellow, and talk of genuinely terrible facilities to accommodate the media. Can this round survive valid criticism and two messy races that have had 17 cautions so far?

All that in another Motorsport101!

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Great to see someone like Francesco Bagnaia come back from such off-season adversity eh?

It was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but first, we talk the Suzuka 8 Hours this past weekend as Honda lay an absolute beating on the field, winning by more than a lap on the Kawasaki dream team of Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes. We also send our best wishes to Gino Rea, recovering in hospital from a horrible accident in practise. Go well Gino.

But yes, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and it was Francesco Bagnaia that came through an early fight from Alex Rins and a late charge from Maverick Vinales to take another narrow victory, and a great reminder of how good MotoGP can be. We discuss that and some of the narratives associated with the series at present, like World Superbikes recent comparisons.

We also talk about the races unfortunately small attendance. Only 41,000 showed up for this one and barely 100k for the weekend. Not for the first time this season, we try and get to the bottom of why. It can’t be the UK’s cost of living crisis, we had a 142,000 sell out of the F1 race in June. Has the TV coverage not grown the sport? Is Silverstone undesirable for bikes? Is the timeslot wrong given its the British Summer Holidays? We try and break it down in the second half!

All that and more on Motorsport101!

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The winless streak is over! After over three years out of the winners circle, Alex Rossi broke a nearly 50-race long duck to take the W at IndyCar’s second Indianapolis GP of the season, the Gallagher Grand Prix.

It was a confusing race though, one you could argue was somewhat inherited after leader Colton Herta drove over a kerb and his gearbox broke. So, the 26 car has a third compromised race in a row, Grosjean can’t find his footing in the 28 car, and Devlin DeFrancesco is apparently being shown the door. Is all well at Andretti despite the win? Are they slipping out of the Big 3 altogether?

We also talk about Christian Lundgaard’s brilliant second place finish as the only man who could really follow Rossi around. With him and Callum Illot getting rave reviews in the paddock off the back of “unsuccessful” runs in the European ladder, is F1’s losses IndyCar’s gains? Is there going to be a bottleneck over there as well as F1 revels in one of its strongest ever grids? Dre and RJ going into a deep dive on the state of play.

All that and more on Motorsport101!

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Holy shit. What a goddamn week, and one of the most newsworthy coming off a GP we’ve ever seen. This is a 75 minute special on all of the drama that came in and around the Hungarian GP.

It all started with Sebastian Vettel announcing his retirement, which of course, we all pay tribute to on the show after one of the sport’s most legendary careers and remarkable turnarounds in his reputation. It’s a fun time.

Of course, the aftermath of that has had all hell break loose. Fernando Alonso from outta nowhere swooped in and took that seat off the back of the 41-year old wanting a second year guaranteed that Alpine wasn’t prepared to give. And man did he give his current boss shit for it on Instagram.

And then, just when you think Oscar Piastri coming in for Alpine was a no-brainer… he rejects it after talk surfaced about a possible handshake deal with Zak Brown at McLaren. Again. Like, what are we doing here?! All of that chaos, drama, and permutations broken down in the first half of the show.

We do talk the race itself, and Max Verstappen absolutely seal-clubbing the field from 10th on the grid, despite spinning in the latter stages. A morale-shattering blow to Ferrari, who screwed up again by putting Charles Leclerc on the hard tyre and watching a gimme of a race win become 4th and 6th. Oooft. Cam blew a gasket on this one, let me tell you.

We also talk about the sport’s new #DriveItOut campaign against abuse in the track and online. The sport seems to have genuinely made steps in the right direction but the online issue is one that they seemingly might not be able to handle. We discuss at the end of the show.

All that and more on an absolutely LOADED M101!

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GLORY to corn! Welcome back to Iowa where IndyCar decided to get corny with a pair of races brought to you by Hyvee, who pumped a whole load of money into the place!

We nicknamed this weekend “The Ballad of Josef Newgarden” because it all revolved around him. In Race 1, he led 208 out of 250 laps, stretching out a 60 lap final stint into an 80 lap stint fueling saving, and crushing the field. He was set to do the same in Race 2, leading over half the laps on the table but then his rear right damper broke and sent him hurtling into the wall. Just when Josef was back in title contention, that crash sent him hurtling back down the table.

Not only that, he collapsed outside his trailer in the Iowa sun after the wreck and had to be airlifted to hospital to make sure he was alright. Thankfully he’d be fine, but we talked all about the incredible 36 hours the title contender faced.

Speaking of title contenders, those two races gave us a pretty clear “Championship Six” between Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou, all within a race on points. We discuss the situation and who we think has the best chance heading down the stretch with five races left.

And finally, holy shit, Alex Palou got SUED by his own team boss, at Chip Ganassi Racing. It’s been another turbulent week for the Spanish ace, questions about his immediate future, his medium-term future as Chip considers parking him for the 2023 season, and McLaren distancing themselves from a potential buyout. What next in the biggest silly season story of them all?

All that on Motorsport101!

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The primal scream heard around the world. Charles Leclerc while leading the French Grand Prix on Lap 18, spins out and puts it in the wall. And just like that, Charles is now 63 points behind in the Championship with just 10 races left, as Max Verstappen would go on to comfortably win his 7th race of the year. Ferrari gets another deep dive on this edition of the show, where they weren’t directly responsible for this one, but we still have a go over Carlos Sainz race. Man could have had a podium from the back of the field, but an Unsafe Release penalty and some questionable strategy calls put pay to that. Is this the end for Ferrari’s 2022 challenge?!

We also talk Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton’s 300th GP was celebrated with his best result of the year in 2nd, with teammate George Russell in the wars with Sergio Perez for 3rd. Is the double podium a sign the win is coming? Dre was NOT kind about their chances here, but an honest assessment of Mercedes is in this one too.

Also a chat about France’s future on the calendar. F1 is continuing to expand, we have China and Qatar rejoining into 2023 and there’s been talk that Paul Ricard gets dropped, and maybe Spa too to accommodate a 24 race 2023 calendar. Is that feasible? Should the historical rounds get pushed for the street circuits like Qatar and Saudi Arabia? Should there be bi-annual rotating slots? We talk about it at the back end of the show!

That’s our French GP report, check back in for IndyCar on Sunday!

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