Motorsport101

No, they weren't kidding. They really ARE going to race in Qatar.

Marc Marquez put one hand and four fingers on the Championship after another victory in Sepang, comfortably beating Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez to the top step of the podium in a round he described as "full attack". But it's hard to ignore the elephant in the room here, Qatar really is happening as we speak, and the riders couldn't agree on whether to stage a boycott.

That takes up the majority of the running time here, as Dre, RJ and Cam discuss the nuances of the situation. Why a direct bombing threat is unlikely as the US but closed airspace is the big concern. There's also the fact that Yamaha withdrew from the weekend due to company policy on travelling to restricted areas, and could face sporting sanctions... despite the fact the MotoGP group don't have the authority to do so in the sporting regulations (Trust me, we checked.) 19 out of the 22 riders didn't want to go, but with Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin still in title contention, everyone has eventually rolled out for the race, despite genuine concerns. Welp.

So... when a circuit releases an emergency shelter guide, is that a safe place to race? Let's ask Toto Wolff for his opinion...

It'd been a little while coming, but after 16 years, Sebastian Vettel's record of being the youngest F1 World Champion was finally passed on, handing the torch to Kimi Antonelli. But how we got there, was... something.

First of all, we had another huge bust up between the Ferrari's, who were both going for the lead on the opening lap until they both ran wide at Turn 4, with Leclerc getting a penalty for cutting the track, and Hamilton opening the door for Max Verstappen to pass him, a move that Lewis was never able to return, with Max taking his sixth win in Mexico. Lewis talked about having big problems during the race and asked for Charles to take a harsher penalty. What next?

There's also the curious case of Haas, and them firing Esteban Ocon early from his contract after alledged talk of an explosive argument on Friday night, and an FP2 run-plan gone awry. It meant that Ryo Hirakawa had to come on at the 11th hour and he actually got a point for them after a string of post-race penalties, and an outside pass on Williams Carlos Sainz' at the end too. Sick. And that sets the stage for Rafael Camara to make his F1 debut in Brazil this weekend. No pressure.

So, a Ferrari therapy session, big flowers for Kimi and Max, and a clean up of a wild weekend in Mexico. Tequila!

(Apologies to the early access gang on this one, work commitments got in the way, forgive me - Dre)

MotoGP finally said goodbye to the greatest bike racing track of all-time,. the legendary Phillip Island circuit. And PI gave the field one last treat and one last trick before leaving. Eight laps of one of the most brilliant Sprints ever, and a Grand Prix that didn't happen because Melbourne's climate is a bitc-

Marc Marquez has seemingly put one hand and four fingers on the title after Jorge Martin broke his wrist in a Sprint crash at the Hayshed in a Sprint that Marc would go onto win, even if the Grand Prix never actually happened because low cloud cover in Melbourne meant the medical helicopter could no longer fly. Welp. So an awkward goodbye from the sport itself, and questions to ask about the cancellation, and the scheduling. 

We also address the recent explosion in takes regarding MotoGP's new policy on missing mandatory media events like press conferences and autograph signings too. 

He's almost there. Kimi Antonelli would take his ninth victory of the 2026 season to put him just two points away from becoming F1's youngest ever World Champion. And he made it look easy, taking the United States Grand Prix by 13 seconds in a race that never really got out of third gear.

We had Max Verstappen try to keep his winning streak going but failing due to a Red Bull that was operationally off the boil and a car that was seemingly having niggling issues, while Ferrari lacked pace when it mattered most, and lacked confidence to try to match Kimi's 1-stop strategy. And don't get us started on McLaren looking mediocre since Baku.

We also address what's been a weird week for people putting showing their metaphorical ass. From F1 inviting Sophie Cunningham and her transphobic grifting, to Ted Cruz handing out trophies, to Jeremy Clarkson pissing off Argentina again. Awful shit.

All that and chat about Cadillac keeping Sergio Perez and whether Bridgestone could be making a comeback in a new Motorsport101.

He just keeps on winning. It's Alex Palou's world, we're just living in it. So let's talk about the 2026 IndyCar Season with Dre Harrison, RJ O'Connell and Frontstretch's own Chris DeHarde.

As a trio, they address a lot of the post-season stories that we didn't get time to cover on the main show. For example, the shock move at AJ Foyt for them to release Santino Ferrucci and bring in Dale Coyne Racing's Dennis Hauger. There's also more on the IndyCar evaluation test as Josh Pierson fights to get on the grid against a rule that was seemingly created to stop paying drivers of his nature from getting on the grid in the first place. 

We also go team by team up and down the grid and break down their seasons as well as their future prospects. For example, Juncos actually kepy one of the drivers of the year in Rinus Veekay, who finally had the breakout season so many speculated he had in him. And what will Meyer Shank do as they sit on the brink of expansion. Are they bringing in Honda's own Super Formula ace in Kaku Ohta or former Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda, as well as Mick Schumacher's surprising promotion up the grid?

And of course, the sport's elite class. Has McLaren actually made themselves weaker and strengthed their main opposition by gifting Chip Ganassi the third place finisher of Christian Lundgaard? And can Andretti rally behind Kyle Kirkwood to finally topple Alex Palou? So many questions, all covered in a 150-minute comprehensive edition of Motorsport101!

So you mean to tell me that MotoGP saw Aprilia have a 1-2-3-4 lockout of its Grand Prix, and yet arguably made their World Championship situation worse? Oh boy.

It turns out it kinda did end up that way? In Indonesia, the story of the weekend started on Saturday when a four wide between Fernandez, Bezzecchi, Marquez and Diggia ended up with Martin going from 5th to 1st, Marquez going to second, and Fernandez and Bezzecchi took themselves out of action in a chain reaction. But with Jorge Martin triggering his tyre pressure warning system, he had to cough up a Sprint win and ultimately finished four, giving Marquez an easy Sprint win in Mandalika.

Martin came back to finish 3rd in the GP was Bez won his first GP in 133 days, but with Marquez 6th, the Championship gap is STILL just 2 points with five races to go. Did Aprilia fumble the bag? Do they need team orders? And has this handed the advantage back to Marc Marquez? 

There's also a rant about the terrible state of Michelin tyres as Mandalika forced the final appearance of the heat-protected carcass rear that's been the bain of the sport for half a decade. Oh, and is fining riders for missing promotional events a good thing?

Hard to believe that this was ther 10th time Max Verstappen has tried and he's now finally won the Singapore Grand Prix. And he did it with a Sprint win in what was a dominant weekend, but with a few twists thrown in for shits and giggles.

We had George Russell briefly lead said Sprint after another half an hour torrential downpour - Nature of having two races in two weeks around the equator. So of course, Russell stacked it a lap in. We also had Ferrari get in the mix, but a radio blackout and some miscommunications cost them a likely double podium finish. We also had the McLaren's hit each other in the Sprint's final lap too.

Overall, this was a messy, messy race weekend. And we haven't even discussed the new news of the week - F1's returning to Africa for the first time since Kyalami in 1993. We're going to Rwanda for the African Grand Prix, sometime in the early 2030's. But there's some problematic questions that need answering with it...

It's quickly becoming a two-horse race in MotoGP land as Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin threw down at Motegi for the Japanese Grand Prix, and this time it was Marquez that came out on top as he took his fifth Double Victory of the 2026 season and move to within two points of the Championship lead. But how we got there messy as yet more Michelin tyre drama got in the way. 

This time around, Michelin brought the stiffer carcass rear tyre as a reserve, that ultimately ended up being the main race tyre after multiple rear tyres started failing towards the end of the Sprint. And turns out, it was the best race tyre of the weekend too. Dre, RJ and Cam break it all down.

They also talk about the surprise performances of Enea Bastianini and Somkiat Chantra, as well as the first reaction to the big news of the day, as MotoGP announced a new weekend format, with less practice, and Sprint Qualifying introduced on a Friday. Will it work in the long run? 

Well, this was a messy mothertrucker and a half wasn't it? Formula 1 went all in for a return to Sepang for the first Grand Prix in Malaysia since 2017, even with all the Bahrain branding, Gulf Air sponsorship and even 500 Bahraini marshals flown in for the occasion. Weird.

And it took us 105 minutes to get this race going after a torrential downpour on Sunday, followed by an embarassing engine software bug that led to the FIA scrambling to fix themselves after their own regulations pigeon-holed's the cars. A genuinely good return to Malaysia, tainted by yet another cock-up by a sport whose power-units are clearly too complicated to function as is.

Anyway, Max Verstappen completely dominated the outlier weekend that was, to take his streak of winning seasons up to 11 and score his 72nd win for Red Bull, now the second most of any driver/team combination ever (Only Hamilton's 84 with Mercedes is greater). We talk how he did, how George Russell's late engine blowout effectively ends the title fight, and how Hamilton had to charge through the field on slicks on a damp track just to get back where he started (in spectacular fashion). 

Also in the news, more talk about Esteban Ocon leaving Haas at the end of the season for Rafa Camara, and James Vowles at Williams plan to try and update the cost cap. 

We're really sorry this episode came out later than billed, we had a medical emergency at our original recording date and we doubled this up on Sunday with our Baku recording instead. We'll make it up to you down the toad, promise. 

In the meantime, in this episode, we catchup on the Austrian Grand Prix as Pedro Acosta finally takes his maiden victory, after 56 starts and 15 times on the second of third step of the podium. We breakdown how Michelin bringing its stiffer carcass rear tyre finally allowed KTM to bridge the gap to the Aprilia and Ducati's, and how nervous we all were when Pedro crashed out from an easy Sprint win.

We talk more about the state of the title battle, and the fascinating place its in. Marquez loses 12 points to Jorge Martin, who took the Sprint and second in the GP after a front brake issue hampered Marquez to fifth. Who is favoured going into the flyaway stretch? Who else could potentially play spoiler with Ai Ogura back to good health and Marco Bezzecchi not out of the running at 42 points back. Could Pedro still limp his way back in too?

Also we chat about Yamaha's new nadir after another horrendous weekend, and the potential change to the weekend format. Is Sprint Qualifying coming to MotoGP next year?