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!

Welcome to the respecting the bumps edition of the show, as we have a rare double feature, reviewing MotoGP's return to Brazil after 22 years away and the return of IMSA to Sebring. One track respected their bumps, the other very much didn't.

We doubled up on this episode besides the original felt a little empty. There wasn't a huge amount of racing to talk about. Marc Marquez took advantage of a Diggia mistake to take the Sprint, while Marco Bezzecchi Grand Slammed the Grand Prix to become just the fifth rider in modern MotoGP history to win four GP's in a row, and with it, the Championship lead for the first time. And not to forget, Jorge Martin followed him home for the first Aprilia factory 1-2 since Barcelona 2023. Are they here?

But of course, you're here for the track falling apart. An 80 minute Sprint Delay due to a sewage system being exposed due to heavy rainfall moving the soil under the track, and then a last minute call to reduce the GP to 23 laps because of asphalt falling apart in the penultimate sector. Great. A farcical plan for the race that questions whether this is a serious sport sometimes.

There's also a review of Sebring, with Porsche dominating from start to finish, but with controversy with Felipe Nasr ignoring a team order in the #7 car to beat his teammate #6 Porsche with Kevin Estre at the helm. Controversial? There's also talk about the BoP, whether Cadillac can contend, and Antonio Fuoco going wild in GTD.

It's another stacked M101, and it's right here!

Everything's weirder in Texas. That's how the phrase goes, right?

Dre and Cam return to make sense of IndyCar's big new showpiece round, the Grand Prix of Arlington. And with it, Andretti taking a dominant 1-3-4 despite making five errors out of their eight pitstops across the race. But a perfectly executed gameplan on track came together to demote Alex Palou to a devastating... second place.

Kyle Kirkwood leads the standings for the very first time ever, is it finally his year to pit it altogether as THE American IndyCar prospect? Has the Will Power revenge tour finally began with his first Andretti podium? And is Marcus Ericsson actually doing enough to save his job?

We also talk about all the logistics around Arlington as a race. There's a reason why we go off on IndyCar's current presentation on the broadcasts with timing tower issues, janky format changes to the Fast 6 round of qualifying, and missing overtakes on screen. And an important question to ask - Is this better than the Texas Motor Speedway we left behind half an hour up the road?

The small Italian child did the damn thing! An amazing result for Kimi Antonelli who was just one lap shy of a Grand Slam in Shanghai as he dominated the Chinese Grand Prix to become F1's just second teenage winner.

He did by taking advantage of small errors from teammate George Russell and another dogfight with the plucky Ferrari's. Dre and Cam Buckley review all the action, as well as the midfield barfight for the minor points, both McLaren's failing to START (Again in Piastri's case), and another miserable day for Max Verstappen, who tee'd off on the state of the regulations.

All that and more on a packed M101, and tune back in for IndyCar tomorrow!

Sorry it's taken a bit longer than billed, but here's a big IndyCar catchup Podcast before our Arlington episode drops this weekend as the season finally takes a proper chill week!

Dre and RJ wrap-up a very straightforward beat em' up weekend for Alex Palou in St Petersberg as Marcus Ericsson and Scott McLaughlin could only try to keep up, but spend the majority of the time catching up on all things Phoenix, returning to the IndyCar calendar for the first time in eight years, and with it - A huge win for Josef Newgarden to dethrone Alex Palou's 22-race streak of leading the standings.

How we got there? Another Palou and Rinus Veekay collision on an oval. Whoops. Phoenix also gave us another potentially brilliant oval performance from Christian Rasmussen, who RJ has now nicknamed "Mr Excitement" was on the brink of a potential win, until he had a crash with Will Power in the late stages, damaging his car out of competition. All that and more discussed as Dre and RJ go in depth on the season so far, in this episode of Motorsport101!

After all the talk, all the hype and all the debate, the 2026 F1 Season finally got underway at the Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, and it was a hectic event to say the least. Adrian Newey said his car was unsafe for purpose before we even turned a wheel!

Mercedes were every bit the bookies favourite many thought they were, taking complete control of the weekend with a 1-2 finish. But we didn't get there without a huge FP3 crash and a race against the clock for the Mercedes pitcrew to fix it in time. Not ideal! It also had to deal with Max Verstappen spinning into the wall, Ferrari punching them in the nose via a lightning start, and Oscar Piastri crashing on his sighting lap. Strange way of keeping the curse alive.

Dre and RJ debate all of that, as well as promising signs out of Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto scoring points for Audi on debut, Arvid Lindblad doing the same for Racing Bulls, and why Aston Martin is even more fucked than we thought. And are they throwing Honda under the bus?