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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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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