IndyCar is often full of surprises. Just when you think Nashville was going to be another crash-fest, third time was the charm and everyone largely behaves themselves.

At the front, a game of strategy was in order as Kyle Kirkwood in combination with team strategist Bryan Herta outworked pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin and passed him in the pits and never looked back to his second win of the season. And hosts Dre Harrison, Cam Buckley and RJ O'Connell breakdown just how we got there.

We also have to talk about Alex Palou again, who being caught dead to rights on a strategy that was going to have him run out of fuel, only for the late cautions to save him in 3rd!

And we also talk Simon Pagenaud's future. Linus Lundqvist filled in for the 5th race that Simon's missed in his Meyer Shank drive since his horrifying brake failure at Mid-Ohio. Is he healthy enough to return? Or is this another Kurt Busch situation?

And finally, is Nashville (now including Broadway), a good fit for the series new decider?

Episode #463: 2023 IndyCar Music City Grand Prix Review

It wouldn't be an IndyCar season without an absolute mess of a finale! In a 95-lap race at Laguna Seca in Monterrey, we had 35 laps of caution over eight separate incidents, 17 penalties handed out, 8 of which were for avoidable contact, and race winner Scott Dixon won despite having to do a drive-through penalty after less than 10 laps. Make it make sense.

Well, the boys will certainly try to do just that as they break down while trying to break down the Laguna Seca race as IndyCar's season finale. Was this a good or bad example of a s***show race? Was the track partially to blame? And is it wild if a pace car has to get refuelled in the middle of a race?

We also talk about the Leader's Circle payout system as Agustin Canapino and Juri Vips both earned their team over a million bucks after scraping into the Top 22 and how Devlin, didn't. It's a wild story within a wild race!

And finally... should IndyCar have an all-star race? The series is adding a new $1m dollar challenge at The Thermal Club for 2024, and we have all the details! Is it good for the series?

All that and more on Motorsport101, and stay tuned, there's a season review next week!

Episode #472: 2023 IndyCar Grand Prix of Monterrey Review

I love that Singapore just ended up being a Red Bull-themed episode, even if Carlos Sainz won a classic GP to end Red Bull's 15-race winning streak! But yeah, did we mention Red Bull DIDN'T win!

It was a brilliant finale to an intriguing tactical race in Singapore as the unique nature of the track and setup concerns for the energy drink firm opened the door for Carlos Sainz to win from pole and dictate the terms of engagement. We talk how he used 2nd place runner Lando Norris as a "pick" to make sure he could hold off the 2-stopping Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. And that was before Russell hit the wall on the final lap to cost himself another podium. 

We also talk the confusing situation at AlphaTauri as Liam Lawson continues to make headlines, this time with his first Q3 appearance and P9 finish, Alpha's best of the year. With Daniel Ricciardo still not 100% fit and Yuki Tsunoda controversially seemingly at the front of the queue, who should be in their seats... and why is Sergio Perez off the table? 

Also, we gotta talk Helmut Marko being a xenophobe once again. Yay. Welcome back, to Motorsport101...

Episode #473: 2023 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Review

Safe to say this wasn't your standard weekend. F1 returned to the United States this weekend for its first Sprint Weekend and it indirectly led to some madness after the race.

On the track, Max Verstappen tied his own record with his 15th win of 2023, but was pushed to the limit when nursing a braking problem as Lewis Hamilton was chasing him down at the end. All this off the back of a Mercedes team that botched their strategy after not being sure about whether they wanted to run a 1-or-2 stop strategy and it may have cost them their first win...

...Only for them to be disqulaified, alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for having their floors too low tot nhe ground and losing too much wear from their skid block. This led to a big debate about the FIA's scrutineering process and whether it's fair or not that only four cars (Verstappen and Norris' being the other) got their skid block spot checked. Is this okay? Or does it expose a flaw in the system?

Some of the more under the radar drives like Yuki Tsunoda's 8th and Logan Saregant's first points in F1 got brought up, and we talk about the first weekend of F1 Academy being live, Marta Garcia's title wins, and our hopes for the Academy going forward. (Note: We recorded this a day before the news that Garcia will be in FRECA with Prema in 2024 and the series partners will guarantee a seat in the future for a Top 3 Academy finisher, so good!)

All that and more on another Motorsport101! (PS: MotoGP will be back next week, Cam is under the weather at the moment, get well soon brother)

Episode #480: 2023 F1 United States Grand Prix Review

Now included: A Bonus segment on the Romain Grosjean to Juncos move and Callum Illot's departure is covered in here too!

But Dre and RJ go in-depth on the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix, and for Checo, a lot of genuine hope was extinguished in just 15 seconds after a nasty accident at Turn 1 when trying to send it for the lead of the race! And with AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo having his best F1 weekend since his McLaren win, is there even more pressure on the Mexican to win after his hometown failure?

We also talk about Aston Martin's struggles too, with their worst weekend of the year cementing a tough post-Zandvoort stretch of just 17 points in their last 4 weekends. And with rumours spinning around in the air regarding their future, do questions need to be asked about the Silverstone team? Is Fernando walking away? Surely not again...

...All that and more on another Motorsport101!

Episode #481: 2023 F1 Mexican Grand Prix Review

If you're the sort of person who likes an old school Motorsport101, this is the episode for you, a 2 hour-long deep dive into the 2023 Formula 1 Season, and a bonus segment into what happened the previous week in what we called Wolffghazi - As the FIA opened and very quickly closed a conflict of interest investigation against Susie and Toto Wolff as all 10 F1 teams distanced themselves from a governing body who took a story from a baseless sourced. Ugly. 

Then we get into the season review itself, as we go in reverse and break down team by team. The battle for seventh comes first between a struggling Haas team, Alfa Romeo and the participation trophy role they became infamous for, Williams massive improvement and their fight with the mess that was AlphaTauri.

Then the midfield as Alpine was in no mans land and a mess of a management structure fell on its head again, then the heated battle for second between Ferrari and their poor start, McLaren with one of the greatest comebacks of all-time, Aston Martin's shockingly great start but mid-season collapse and Mercedes, who were "Luigi wins by doing nothing" team. 

And of course, one more look at Red Bull and the greatest F1 season of all-time. All that in a massive bumper edition of Motorsport101!

Episode #489: Wolffghazi And The 2023 F1 Season Review

Motorsport101 is an alternative Motorsport podcast, made by all walks of life, for all walks of life, hosted by Dre Harrison, alongside Cameron Buckley and RJ O'Connell! Every week we tackle the biggest show on the motor racing planet, Formula One, as well as Indycar, Formula E! We aim to be a refreshing, newer, more modern take on the world of Motorsport, and we hope you enjoy the show!

New tracks tagged #wtf1