The Motorsport101 Podcast

Welcome to the most chaotic week of IndyCar in years. On this extended edition, Dre Harrison and RJ O'Connell try to make sense of an absolutely wild week, catching up with the back end of the Penske Push-To-Pass cheating scandal, as Josef Newgarden in particular had to face the music with a presser after his St Pete disqualification. We talk the Grand Prix of Barber where Scott McLaughlin taught Motorsport a valuable lesson - If you're under heat for cheating, release a statement, don't do a presser, then go dominate the track you won at last year. And for bonus points, pick up a hot date! There's also the horrible news coming out of McLaren as they announced the firing of David Malukas after never turning a wheel in anger for the papaya brand? Unfair, or just good business? A deep dive on that as McLaren drives to move on before the Month of May. All that and more on a stacked M101, listen in now!

In a very special episode of Motorsport101, and in troube to one of our favourite podcasts, "Well There's Your Problem", we did our own version of the show, "Well There's Your Caution", and on it, we talk about the Gosh Darn News of a huge Short Track wreck, the first shots in the IndyCar Push to Pass Scandal, and Kawasaki leaving World Superbikes. Then, for the main feature, we talk about the rise of Japanese Motorsport, and the construction of Fuji International Speedway. Enjoy!

The last time Max Verstappen raced in China, he had just five career wins as Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 with Valtteri Bottas in close company. Five years later, Max has won 53 races since, the same as the rest of the field. Welcome back to Shanghai huh? In this episde, Dre, RJ and Cam breakdown the latest Max Verstappen win, his brilliant pitcrew AVERAING a 2.0 across their four stops, and Lando Norris coming inbetween with a 1-stopper ran beautifully... ...Off the back of a messy pair of Safety Cars, and Lance Stroll caight hotdogging as he drove into the back of Daniel Ricciardo while still under yellow. It's getting really tiring talking in this way about a driver with nearly 150 starts to his name, but here we are... We also talk about the difficult situation Zhou Guanyu is in. He got a lot of special treatment in his first ever home race, with Yao MIng saying he could be to F1 what he was to Basketball. Is that fair? And with Nico Hulkenberg now heading to Sauber for 2025, will this be Zhou's one and only home race?! And finally, F1's considering going to 12 places for points in the future. Is that the move to bandaid the Top 5 teams being so dominant? Let us know, with that and more on a new Motorsport101!

So... safe to say a lot has changed in the last fortnight in the land oif two wheels. We catch up to last week's BIG news - Liberty Media has bought 86% of Dorna Sports, MotoGP's Commercial rights holder for $4.2 billion. Now, assuming the deal beats the European Competition commission, what does it mean for both sports? Does MotoGP need new ownership? What DOES it need to take itself to the next level. The boys ponder the thought. Also, on the US GP itself - Maverick VInales put together the most complete MotoGP weekend of his career to take pole, the sprint and the win to become the first man in the modern era of MotoGP to win on three different bikes. Is this a flash in the pan, or something more? What about the other protagonists? Marc Marquez led but had his front brake fail, Pedro Acosta is absolutely still him via another podium finish, and the Ducati continues to have rear-end chatter problems, ala Pecco Bagnaia looking a little bit sus early on again. Also big change at Yamaha, with Fabio Quartararo staying on a new two-year contract, but after 25 years managing the team, Lin Jarvis will be retiring at season's end... and it quickly turned into a rant at how BAD Honda are. All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Did you miss that fortnight when it wasn't Max Verstappen winning? Well, he was back with a vengence in Japan as Red Bull would go onto dominate the Japanese GP with a 1-2 finish in its new April timeslot. But in optimistic news, if there was any doubt left, Ferrari are clearly the #2 team with Carlos Sainz keeping up his 100% podium streak alive, and Charles Leclerc with a masterful tyre saving drive to finish 4th, we break down their performances, as well as the reshuffle behind the scenes at McLaren and the struggles of Mercedes. We also breakdown the Lap 1 crash between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo, and with Yuki Tsunoda in the points (The first for a Japanese rider at home since 2012), is the Honey Badger's seat in trouble? All that and more in another M101!

This is an audio track from a written article originally on Motorsport101 as Dre talks about Liberty Media's massive $4bn deal to buy Dorna Sports and the commercial rights holds for MotoGP. Just what does this all mean? Dre tries to make sense of it, in about 10 minutes!

MotoGP heads back to Portugal for a brief stop in Europe for Round 2 of the Championship and the first true look at the state of the field... oh and Jorge Martin dominated from start to finish. We break down Spain's #1 hope in regaining the title as he led every single lap in Portimao! Martin also leaves Portugal with an 18-point Championship lead after contenders Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia had a crash at Turn 5 with just a couple of laps to go, taking each other out of contention. Was there someone to blame or just another racing incident? And we also gush over Pedro Acosta after the 19-year old became just the third teenager in Premier Class history and the first since 1979 to hit a Grand Prix podium. This man is quite possibly the truth! All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Well... that was an upset alright?! Max Verstappen, after 43 straight scoring finishes and 1,055 consecutive points scored, Verstappen fails to finish a race as a stuck brake on the grid ended his Australian GP early! And with it, it cleared the way for a Ferrari 1-2 finish as Carlos Sainz ends Max's 9-race winning streak, again! We talk all of that and the McLaren/Ferrari fight afterwards! Also, Fernando Alonso copped a 20-second penalty for "aggrevating circumstances" after his erratic driving into Turn 6 was what led to George Russell crashing into the fence on the final lap. Right call? Or another stewarding can of worms? And finally, WIlliams had a dilemma of their own after Alex Albon wrecked his car so badly on Friday that they had to sacrifice Logan Sargeant's car to allow Albon to continue. We break down the craziness of that decision and much on another Motorsport101!

It's a loaded smorgasbord of Racing here on Episode 505 of the Motorsport101 Podcast! We bring back Keepin It 101 here as RJ returns from the 12 Hours of Sebring over in IMSA as a member of the press and reports on one of the best races of 2024. We also talk NASCAR at Bristol as tyre wear was the order of the day and Denny Hamlin won a classic around the short track! Then we get into our main event, the weirdness of Formula E as Sao Paulo... actually delivered. Sam Bird took his first win in the series since New York in 2021 as he nailed a late last corner pass on Mitch Evans to steal the win, as Jake Dennis, Pascal Wehrlein and Oli Rowland all fought for the final podium spot too. We also talk about how important the win is for Sam, McLaren's 1st F-E win, and the series as a whole. We also talk about the new nature of the series running - Peloton Racing. Is it a form of racing for the series that is sustainable long-term for Formula E's future? A deep dive on it all on the latest M101 with Dre Harrison and RJ O'Connell!

Hey folks, this is the audio version of the newest M101 written Article, March's Ask Dre post for 2024, and in it, Dre goes into detail about whether Hamilton can "un-honse" Ferrari, whether BMW are serious about a MotoGP expansion, how much of an impact Trackhouse can make as newcomers into the sport, and whether Josef Newgarden is truly "back" in the series!

NOTE: This is a reupload of Episode 502 from last week, reason being was due to an error where I (Admin Dre), uplaoded the wrong episode into your feed, and gave you 503 instead, this was my mistake, and Spotify didn't want to upload the updated version, so for those who have missed out on there, here's Episode 502. Again! My bad - Dre You know what they say about meeting your heroes? How about racing them? Ollie Bearman is the story of the weekend here, after having to sub in for Carlos Sainz getting a nasty bout of appendicitis. But Bearman did a brilliant job subbing in qualifying in 11th and finishing 7th on just 24 hours notice. Is this proof that Bearman is the real deal? Also, alongside Max Verstappen's 19th win in the last 20 races, Haas pulled a nasty bit of gamesmanship using Kevin Magnussen as a blocker to let Nico Hulkenberg back in front on an alternate strategy to finish 10th, despite 20 seconds of time penalties and a potential FIA complaint from RB. Was that fair? And finally, yet more from the horrible Christian Horner investigation as it turns as Helmut Marko cried wolf over another potential investigation, and BBC reports the victim of the alleged reports has been suspended. All that and more on another loaded M101!

And finally, in the weekend of beatings, Josef Newgarden is back! The man who made some big radical behind-the-scenes changes in the off-season and after a year of struggles on road and street courses, Josef dominates St Pete in the 2024 IndyCar Season Opener and wins from pole by 8 seconds over Pato O'Ward and Scott McLaughlin. A flash in the pan or is it the return of the Newgarden that won a $1m Triple Crown bonus in 2022? We also talk about the series' internal politics as Michael Andretti had no problem calling out Roger Penske's leadership of IndyCar and pushing for him to open his wallets to promote the series further. Is he right, or should he be defending for navigating the series through the pandemic? Or is it somewhere in between? And finally, guest Chris DeHarde of Frontstretch joins us and asks, what was your memories of the pandemic as it hits its 4th anniversary. A surprisingly deep episode of Motorsport101!

Okay, this actually IS Episode 503 this time, promise. Our bad! But MotoGP is back for 2024 for its season opener in Qatar! And in it, Francesco Bagnaia reminded the sport that he very much still him, winning in comfortable fashion! But to his surprise, it was Brad Binder that posed the biggest threat to him on a KTM. Is it a sign of things to come? Inevitably, we have to talk about Marc Marquez who finished in the Top 5 in the Sprint and the Race, and was only about a tenth of Bagnaia's pace? A good sign for the future? And of course, the excitement is here in Tech3's Pedro Acosta, who at one point was ahead of Marquez and thinking about a podium before draining his tyres. A star is here? Also, talk about the new Moto2, and an incredible comeback in Moto3 by "Magic" David Alonso, all on tap in another Motorsport101!

You know what they say about meeting your heroes? How about racing them? Ollie Bearman is the story of the weekend here, after having to sub in for Carlos Sainz getting a nasty bout of appendicitis. But Bearman did a brilliant job subbing in qualifying in 11th and finishing 7th on just 24 hours notice. Is this proof that Bearman is the real deal? Also, alongside Max Verstappen's 19th win in the last 20 races, Haas pulled a nasty bit of gamesmanship using Kevin Magnussen as a blocker to let Nico Hulkenberg back in front on an alternate strategy to finish 10th, despite 20 seconds of time penalties and a potential FIA complaint from RB. Was that fair? And finally, yet more from the horrible Christian Horner investigation as it turns as Helmut Marko cried wolf over another potential investigation, and BBC reports the victim of the alleged reports has been suspended. All that and more on another loaded M101!

Apologies this one's coming out a little bit later than planned, it's been a really busy week back at M101 HQ and you'll know about it later this week, promise. But yeah, F1 is back in Bahrain to kick off 2024 and the racing itself (And there wasn't much of it), already feels like it was playing second fiddle to the politics and horrible drama that has been the Christian Horner investigation, and this podcast drops more news and talk about those rumours. Again, be careful, it's near the end of the episode if you think it may be upsetting. But we also talk about Max Verstappen and Career Win #55 as he dominated proceedings to win very much like how last season ended. But what do we make of the state of the field now we've seen the cars in action at full speed. Haas not as bad as expected? Williams slipping? And what the heck is going on at Alpine after a diasterous pre-season and now we know that two major parts of their technical staff have since resigned? All that and a whole lot more on a (slightly late), M101!

This audio was originally a written article on Motorsport101.com regarding the Saudi Arabian GP of 2024 as Max Verstappen won his 9th GP in a row, Ollie Bearman stole the show as a Ferrari substitute and the F1 Academy started its 2nd season on live stream. Check out the website for the written version!

Well, this is it. The 500th Episode of Motorsport101. And in an idea that came together by the wonderful RJ O'Connell, we decided to recount and retell the 50 most important moments in the nine and a half year history of the show. Back in October 2014, Dre Harrison and Ryan King decided to start a podcast for Dre's final-year University project. We never thought a decade on, we'd still be doing this. From the 2014 Russian GP, to Cam and RJ's debuts, to Kurt Busch's ex-girlfriend being a trained assassin, all the way to Abu Dhabi 2021, Marc Marquez leaving Honda and so many of us actually finding a better place for ourselves in and outside of Motorsport. This is an archive of the moments that made us, and made Motorsport what it's become in the last decade. And make no mistake, we couldn't have done it without you, the audience. This place has grown so much in the last decade and we know there's 100 plus places you can get your Motorsport news and opinion fix... you chose us. That means the world. From the bottom of our hearts, from everyone at M101, thank you for inviting us into your homes, whether it be just once, or 500 times. You're the best audience in the world, and we love you. Here's to the next 500, Dre x

This is a written article for a story originally posted for Motorsport101.com regarding two big news stories - Mohammed Ben Sulayem accused of trying to fix part of the Saudi Arabia 2023 result, and Jos Verstappen publically calling for Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner to stand down. Hit up the blog section of the website for the written version!

Welcome to the final season preview podcast of 2024, and its IndyCar's turn to take the stage for a brand new season! But first, we clear up the previous week in Motorsport with Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch's epic 0.007 podium finish in Atlanta over in NASCAR, as well as an update to the Christian Horner investigation, skip to the 23 minute mark if you want to move past it! But yes, the 2024 IndyCar season, and we go up and down the field evaluating the teams and their prospects. AJ Foyt as they try to get off the bottom. Meyer Shank's reboot with the "Qvists". Just who's driving for Dale Coyne in St. Pete? How about the big hitters - Is this the breakout McLaren season with David Malukas now there (later). Is a uniformed Andretti the right approach with Marcus Ericsson? And can a DHL-branded Alex Palou win his third Astor Cup in four years? All that and more in the longest Motorsport101 Podcast in 5 years!

Dre's audio recording of his latest written article, reviewing the 2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, a race where Max Verstappen resumed the status quo, but under the dark cloud of the contiuned Christian Horner investigation. If you find this conversation upsetting, please skip to 4:20 in the audio track. Look after yourselves.