Welcome to an off-season edition of Motorsport101 - We took a week off in the downtime but now we're back with a special mailbag edition of the show with Dre Harrison and RJ O'Connell.

We take care of some general housekeeping, catching up with Ai Ogura potentially moving to the factory Yamaha squad and leaving Trackhouse, and letting that sink in. All of a sudden, Yamaha has a really solid lineup, better than you'd think for a team that's bottom of the standings. Martin, Ogura, Toprak and maybe Guevara? Spicy. But what does that mean for Trackhouse? And what if Tech3 switches to Honda?

There's a chat about IndyCar changing its Fast 6 Qualifying format to one-shot qualifying despite a rather unsuccessful trial run in Arlington. But then, we answer your questions! Including a Wrestlemania themed Motorsport fight, the death in Motorsport that had the biggest impact, and whose autobiography would we love to read from within the world of Motorsport. Enjoy!

Any further requirements for Aprilia? Because it seems to this podcast host, that Aprilia has truly arrived and they are a problem.

Dre and Cam review the 2026 MotoGP US GP, and it was another banner day for the Aprilia factory. Jorge Martin took advantage of a Pecco Bagnaia rear tyre vibration to win the Sprint on the final lap of the race, giving Martin the World Championship lead for a day, his first for nearly a year and a half. But behind, Marc Marquez took out Fabio Di Giannatonio and Marco Bezzecchi crashes out in a Sprint for the second time this season.

Bez then took revenge in the Grand Prix to take his fifth GP in a row, only the third rider of the modern age to do so, the only rider ever to lead every single lap in a five-race winning streak, and pushed the record for consecutive laps lead to a whopping 121. Is Aprilia officially now the best bike in MotoGP?

And what's up with Marc Marquez? A weekend where nothing really went right with him - A 115mph crash in practice, a take out in the Sprint, and a GP where he had to come back from 11th to get back in the picture. Is that shoulder injury worse than we ever let on? And what is a 100% Marc Marquez at this point? Is Jerez a crucial Championship flashpoint? All that and more on a new Motorsport101!

Welcome to the special extended Max Verstappen edition of a Motorsport101 episode where he absolutely became the main character.

Dre and RJ talk about two races in one podcast. First up, F1's Japanese Grand Prix, where before we'd even started the weekend, the FIA had reduced the amount of regen the cars would be allowed to cut down on Superclipping, and Verstappen threw out a journalist from his media briefing on Thursday. So of course, we had to break down all of that.

Meanwhile, Kimi Antonelli dominated the second half of the race off the back of a Safety Car to take back-to-back pole and wins as George Russell was in the wars after having a bad setup. Given Kimi's become the youngest man to ever lead the World Championship, could he go all the way?

That Safety Car though, may be the wake up call the sport needs after Ollie Bearman had a 30mph closing speed difference between himself, and Franco Colapinto who he was attempting to pass into the Spoon. He goes into the wall at 150mph, a 50G crash that caused a knee contusion. Will this be the catalyst for change in the sport?

There's also discussion that Verstappen may retire because he dislikes the sport's regulations that much. Is that really going to happen? All that and a review of IndyCar at Barber, on a double-stacked Motorsport101!