“Francesco Bagnaia… Why are you the way that you are?” – Cam Buckley

Welcome back to MotoGP, and we have a brand new winner as the calendar returned to Argentina as the VR46 Academy scores its first ever MotoGP win at the hands of totally not a Marco Simoncelli lookalike, Marco Bezzecchi! He was brilliant in a dominant display in heavy wet conditions as he smacked around Johann Zarco and new polesitter Alex Marquez!

We also had another brilliant sprint race as Brad Binder went from 15th to 1st on Saturday afternoon (Again in wet conditions), as he hugged the inside line beautifully to eventual victory. Has the South African become a Saturday man at last? And with Joan Mir suffering a severe concussion, is the Sprint having a nastier downside still?

Also, Francesco Bagnaia binned it again, seemingly pushing too much in the rain and crashing it in the rain, his 6th in the last 22 weekends. How long can he keep getting away with making basic errors?

All that and a roundup of the junior series racing, on a hour long Motorsport101!

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Just what Formula 1 needed after two drab, predictable offerings… a complete shitshow of an orchestrated finish!

The record books will show that Max Verstappen took his 2nd race of the season in dominant fashion! The reality is how we got there was a record breaking, wild affair – The first F1 race in history, to have three red flags in it, with their very status as a tool brought into question, as Kevin Magnussen’s incident looked like a Safety Car at most.

With it, we got a triple crash on the standing restart with 2 laps left, leading to Carlos Sainz going from 4th to 12th, Sargeant getting away with punting Nyck De Vries, and Pierre Gasly (On 10 penalty points), pinning Esteban Ocon against the wall. All makes sense. All for that to Max Verstappen to win under a Safety Car finish, only the 11th time since 1993 that’s ever happened.

Is F1 risking its sporting integrity by trying to solve a problem it doesn’t have in regards to entertainment value? We get into a big debate about that one here.

We also get into Red Bull – Can they really start thinking about going 23 up and 23 down? Some fun banter from Fernando Alonso has us asking questions about Mercedes upturn in form. And we dish out some flowers for underdog of the day Yuki Tsunoda, again!

It’s a hectic Aussie GP, on Motorsport101

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An extra special edition of the Motorsport101 Podcast this week as Dre and RJ were joined by a special guest – Jens “Geinou” Sobotta, contributor to RacingBlog.De and Japanese Motorsport journalist that’s commentated on all three Japanese Supers, GT, Formula and Taikyu!

In this feature length special, both RJ and Jens cooks on Super Formula and Super GT’s 2023 Seasons starting this weekend and next weekend respectively! In Super Formula, can Tomoki Nojiri make it a three-peat, or will he come under pressure from high-profile teammate Liam Lawson at Team Mugen? Will Kamui Kobayashi finally win a race? IS Naoki Yamamoto back in the mix?

We also preview SuperGT with even more 450km races! Three different types of body, and sustainable fuels! Are Team Inpul favourites? Can Bertrand Baguette retain? And what can the NSX do in its swansong year?

All that and more in a 101 minute special on Motorsport101!

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We’re not going to lie to you folks – This one’s a little unhinged, even by our standards. We were tired, but having fun and a Formula E Race Review is somewhere in here, as well as a rare blooper of RJ O’Connell screaming in visceral horror. True story!

But MITCCCCCCCCCH BRRRRRRRRRRRRAH is still alive and well as he took a narrow win in Formula E’s debut in Brazil at the Sao Paolo street circuit. The podium was separated by just half a second as Nick Cassidy’s 3rd podium in a row had him caught in a factory Jaguar sandwich. Sam Bird 3rd, and oddly, not going for the win despite a 2% battery advantage!

We also talk the oddities of the track itself. Seemingly another step in the right direction for the series with a fast, almost roval layout but question marks about that weird extended chicane in the middle and the regen havoc it was causing.

And we also answer a genuinely interesting question – Is Formula E the most exciting Motorsport series in the world right now? Here us out for a minute, for realsies!

All of that and more in a slightly madder Motorsport101. Enjoy!

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Well… this was a lot.

MotoGP’s season opener was always going to be an anticipated affair, but this weekend was all over the place and it was pure unbridled chaos.

We had a dodgy Portimao circuit that had Pol Espargaro clatter an unairfenced wall at speed as the gravel refused to slow him down. The result, a horror crash with a lung contusion, a broken mandible and a broken back.

That was intense enough, but then title contender Enea Bastianini gets collected by Luca Marini in the sport’s first ever sprint race. A great showcase of the sport at its most aggressive… but at what cost?

Oh and then Marc Marquez takes all the headlines with a hellacious clatter of Miggy and Martin, injuring all three of them in the process. It’s become the headline story as Marquez got a Double Long Lap Penalty that he might not even have to serve… We break it all down in an 80 minute season opening special. MotoGP is back. And it’s wild.

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Surprise! We got another bonus episode for you in the cooker! And with RJ O’Connell repping Daily Sportscar, we felt like it was only fitting to get a podcast special in with both Sebring Endurance races – The new WEC Season Opener; the 1000 Miles of Sebring (That never goes 1000 Miles), and IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring!

Ferrari snagged a pole in their WEC Debut! But Toyota came through to eventually dominate the proceedings. We talk their run, Ferrari’s debut that didn’t include “honsing”, and how Peugeot completely shat the bed in their big league debut. Good lord, that was rough.

We also talk IMSA’s 12 Hours, that had Jack Aitken come through and steal one after we got a huge wreck with just 30 minutes left that had both Porsche’s and Wayne Taylor Racing’s #10 car wipe out in a ridiculous racing incident. And IndyCar’s own Scott McLaughlin ended up on the overall podium!

How was the racing? And should the series move away from Sebring as a whole with Indianapolis and COTA slated to join?! More on all of that in an hour of Sportscars on Motorsport101!

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No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, they really are this dominant and there is every chance Red Bull runs the table.

F1 returned to Saudi Arabia and it was a beating by Sergio Perez after Max Verstappen had to settle for second… after coming back from 15th in order to do it. Call forth the realisations that this is going to be a two-man fight for the title and we’re already trying to give Perez a shot at glory. But is it justified?!

We also deal with Fernando Alonso, who got his 100th podium… then lost it… then got it back again due to the FIA, handshake agreements and a rule being under the microscope. And this time, it was what counts as work one a car when serving a 5-second time penalty. Is the FIA setting itself up for failure again with its new VAR-like Operations Centre?

And wasn’t Tsunoda and Magnussen for 10th place fun? Shame we might not even get that many fights for points given the lockout at the top of the table. Saudi Arabia Race Review on Motorsport101!

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“Hey Gang – Dre here, editor and all that. Quick note – Yes, this is very late, almost a month so. We’re really sorry about that. This had some technical issues that took a while to iron out, and on top of that, we got caught up in the start of F1 season, the surprise of actually getting Ryan Nanni as a guest and Season Previews for all of the big stuff. This won’t happen again, and hey, with Formula E back this weekend in Sao Paolo, maybe this could be considered a cool throwback! Apologies again, and hope you enjoy the show anyway.”

Formula E got down for Round 5 in Cape Town and it produced an all-time classic as Antonio Felix Da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne, two of the series greats came together in a brilliant back and forth fight for the win, including Da Costa pulling off maybe the greatest pass in series history!

….And yet, Formula E found new ways of kicking its audience in the teeth. A huge suspension issue was discovered during the weekend that led to Seat Cupra and Mahindra withdrawing their cars from the weekend. Combine that was Sam Bird’s car unsalvageable from a huge qualifying wreck that could have been avoided with better marshalling and we got a mess of a weekend behind the scenes that led to Formula E’s least populated race – Just 17 cars taking the start.

Dre, Cam and RJ praised Cape Town for all its good – A genuine step forwards for a series that’s starting to outgrow itself in terms of technology and as it at a crossroads as to what it wants to be, but also ponder if it’ll ever be taken seriously in a complicated hierarchy of Global Motorsport.

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It’s the final episode of Season Preview Season here on Motorsport101, and with MotoGP back in Portimao to kick off their 2023 season on Sunday, Dre and Cam sit down for a feature-length deep dive on the state of the sport heading into the new year.

Now, we’re going to be honest here, things look a little bleak. Ducati are set to dominate with eight bikes, a GP23 that broke Portimao’s lap record in testing, and and a super-team with Enea Bastianini joining from Gresini. Can anyone stop them? Especially when their 7th best rider in their ranks is… Alex Marquez?

Honda gets featured heavily at the start, as they’re throwing EVERYTHING at the wall to keep Marc Marquez happy, including brining in Suzuki’s former head of development, and outsourcing an entire chassis to Moto2 kings Kalex. A last roll of the dice to keep the legend happy?

What about Aprilia? ALL the aero onboard with Aleix Espargaro already going under the knife with a fibrosis diagnosis, and now a second team with RNF, Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira joining. Can they stay at the front in a post-concession world?

What about a revamped KTM? Jack Miller joins Brad Binder, and Pol Espargaro returning home after a horror stint with Honda. Is this really worth all the talent squandered, and can they develop their way into serious contenders of being just a flash in the pan?

Yamaha are also all by themselves now, and Fabio Quartararo looks set to be their own challenger. Can be bounce back after the biggest title choke in the sport’s history. And is there any hope for Franco Morbidelli?

This and so much more in a feature-length season preview on Motorsport101!

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Welcome back to IndyCar 2023! And we already had a complete shitshow of a race to start of the season, where half a dozen cars didn’t make the fourth corner. Welcome back to… chaos?

IndyCar’s back in St Petersburg, and the whole running was dominated by a massive incident at Turn 4 where Scott McLaughlin lost control of his car and clattered into Romain Grosjean in a key flashpoint in a battle for the win. McLaughlin apologised but it brought Dre out into the open with RJ and asked – Is this series actually bullying RoGro here? Or do the standards of driving suck in general? With Will Power shoving Colton Herta into the wall and multiple sloppy incidents… there may be something to that too!

We also talk the silly logistics of the calendar as IndyCar decides to not race for a month after this one, and oh yeah… Marcus Ericsson won a race via fluky means again as Pato O’Ward suffering a plenum fire with just three laps to go! Can he EVER win one normally?!

AND a bonus segment! We recorded this the same day Meyer Shank got clapped for cheating at the Rolex 24… but got to keep the win?! A loaded M101 on the weekend!

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