New year, same Inbox. It’s that time again for the return of Ask Dre! The show where you, the wonderful Motorsport101 audience, ask me your questions on Formula 1, MotoGP, IndyCar or whatever else tickles your brain, and I do my best to give you a satisfying answer!
This month, a heap of Alex Palou discussions now IndyCourt has come to an end, a discussion about a private test being… private, the future of Mick Schumacher, Logan Sargeant and Colton Herta. And a little bit about yours truly and my future as well. Read on!
What does the future hold for you Dre? Back to the bookies or a new career adventure? – Kieran
Well, if you’re reading this post, you’ve probably already seen on social media that yes, I have a new job! I’ll be joining Crash as a Social Content Producer from February 2nd, focusing specifically on MotoGP and Formula 1!
For those new here, because every post is someone’s first – I was let go from the Motorsport Network back in August last year after they had a series of cuts. I was their Podcast Producer and I genuinely loved putting their network of shows together. But I always kinda knew deep down that hiring just one person to handle all the audio when they can do that with a video editor and save 35 grand a year, I thought I was on borrowed time. And I was. Realest shit I’ll ever drop on your heads right now – Venture capital never makes anything better, especially when you’re a creative.
Not going to lie, it’s been a fucking tough six months. I genuinely thought I was done in Motorsport full time, I was back to applying for bookmaker roles (Well spotted Kieran), as well as other audio production gigs, Podcast jobs, even some social media roles. But I got lucky that a friend put in a good word when a vacancy came up, so huge thanks to Lewis Duncan for doing so, I owe that man several beers and a hockey jersey. This is the second and last time I’m making a hockey joke intentionally. Heated Rivalry, I’m looking at you. Great show by the way.
But seriously, thank you to everyone who’s put the word out, who’s thought of me when seeing jobs go out, or for just checking in. It means the world that you care about me and want to see me back on the wagon. Personally, I can’t believe I’ve worked for three different Motorsport firms in as many years, but here we are. Life is strange. Can’t wait to get going.
Why has everyone gone into a frenzy because of a private F1 test? – Iestyn (Question of the Month)
To borrow a line from a favourite song – I want it all, and I want it now.
I’m going to be more honest than I normally would be here, I think we reek of entitlement sometimes as an audience. Remember, we’ve only had televised testing since 2015, and we only had that because everyone complained when Sky Sports had a live ticker in Jerez the previous season when the V6 turbo-hybrids first debuted. Take it from me, the man who once did a 10-hour livestream of a full test day as one of his first public acts for WTF1, you don’t want this as bad as you think.
We’re spoiled. This has been advertised as a private test with no media and no fans from the moment it was announced, and yet we have fans trying to break into the track to get their sweet, sweet pictures of cars, F1 screwing up by making the data feed public by accident (Only for fans to nab it and put it on YouTube), it gets taken down, fans complain about that, and here we are. If anything, props to old mate Jonny Noble for his hillside dedication, and being spotted by both Haas and Williams. It’s why Jon’s the best. Seriously.
But it reeks of entitlement on our end. Even with it being a private test, we got unofficial times given to the media, F1 making their own highlight videos at the end of each day with driver interviews, Sky having daily episodes of Ted’s Notebook, and that’s still not enough? We still have two public tests in Bahrain later in February remember!
I think it speaks to a lot of where we’re at as an audience. I’ve mentioned before that it’s all gone a bit “instant gratification” for consumers and we have to have everything now, now now now, and this is another example of just unnecessary bitching. But that’s just me…
What are your thoughts now that the Palou case is over now at least? – Graham
It went about how I expected. Palou was always going to be a super long shot to win the case. He admitted from the start that he broke his contract, and the reasoning why was always flimsy. At best, he was hopelessly naive for signing that contract shortly after Oscar Piastri was confirmed at McLaren. Given the super lineup that’s now become in F1, the odds Palou breaks that partnership was virtually zero. If Pato O’Ward was never in the frame, what made you think you were? Then again, Zak Brown is a wicked good marketer, so if anyone can shit talk your way into convincing someone they had a chance of jumping the Grand Canyon a la Homer Simpson, it’s him.
The only real smoking gun that Palou had, was the fact that Zak deleted evidence of negotiations off his WhatsApp, but that was never going to be enough to hold up in a court. There was always strong arguments that Palou’s backtrack cost McLaren millions in the NTT sponsorship that was meant for his #6 car, as well as the lost bonus money due to McLaren not having an option to sign what GM would call an “A-Tier” driver (Both Chevrolet and Honda give teams a stipend based on the quality of the driver representing their engine, Zak had to sign David Malukas instead and he wasn’t as highly ranked), and the extra paycheck he “had” to give Pato O’Ward to protect his role in the team. Funnily enough, all the F1 damages McLaren asked for was thrown out, hence only the partial victory of about 60% of what the team claimed.
I don’t think anyone comes out of this looking good. Brown’s always had very questionable ethics as a team boss when it comes to driver treatment. Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta had been teased for an F1 role that never came. After Palou walked away, Malukas never raced for McLaren and was cut before the Indy 500 due to a wrist injury he picked up in training. His replacement Theo Pourchaire was paid just $87,500 for seven races in the team, before he was replaced with Nolan Siegel, who’s doing a bad job of shaking off the “pay driver” tag we love to hate in Motorsport. And this is just the IndyCar side of the organisation.
So for me, yeah, Palou was always gonna lose, but given how shitty Zak’s been over the seasons, it was actually somewhat cathartic to see AP10 give some of that shit back by having to go to a dragged out court hearing over a two-year period. Zak could have settled out of court for a similar amount I reckon, but he WANTED to try and take Chip to the cleaners. As I said, no-one really “won” here in my opinion.
If Colton Herta finishes outside the top three in the upcoming 2026 F2 season, do you think he still gets the Cadillac F1 gig in the near future or is he banished back into IndyCar? – Narendra
Man, returning to an elite seat in IndyCar is considered “banishment”. Harsh ain’t it?
The thing is, a lot of this is going to boil down to just how badly Dan Towriss means it when he says he wants his American in his team and having that pathway. Because as I’ve said before, if this was just about having a Yank behind the wheel, Jak Crawford was right there and now has a Superlicence. Crickets in that corner of Aston Martin…
So yeah, Towriss wants his dude, I’m just not sure if he’s prepared to cut bait with either Valtteri Bottas or Sergio Perez early to do it, unless one of them completely shits the bed. And with nearly 550 starts between them, I think that’s unlikely. Herta only needs eighth in F2 next year to be eligible and that position goes down to ninth if he runs one FP1 across the season, and tenth if he does two. Tenth in F2 wouldn’t normally get you promoted, but again, how badly does Towriss want this?
Normally, I’d agree with you Narendra, Top 3 should be the aim, he’s in Luke Browning’s Hitech, he has a team good enough to challenge, but that ownership factor and management is for me just as big a kicker.
Now we have our conclusion to hashtag Indycourt, did Alex Palou make the right decision to stay at CGR? – Max
He’s a four-time series Champion, an Indy 500 winner, he’s just come off arguably the greatest individual season the sport has ever had and he’s an all-time great at 28. What do you think?
In all seriousness though, I get why this question is here. Please forgive the Harry Potter analogy (JK Rowling is an Epstein-entertaining c**t), but I did watch the first three movies as a child and it reminded me of the Sorting Hat in Dumbledore’s office claiming Harry would have made a fine Slytherin, in the same way that Palou probably would have been just fine in a McLaren given his level of talent.
A big name sponsor in NTT backing his car, likely the floor to lift the Papaya out of midfield obscurity, and at least three cracks to win a 500 in arguably the best package on the grid to do so. The only niggling doubt in my head on that take is, how much of that is compromised by having Pato in the same team? Remember, no-one has won for McLaren since their IndyCar return besides Pato, and they’ve had quality drivers like Alexander Rossi, Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist, who have all won for other teams. They’re all not Palou, mind.
Either way, given McLaren wasn’t going to give Palou the F1 seat he dreamed of at that point in his life, what else would he go there for besides the bread?
Should darts implement a visit/break clock, and if so, how would you implement it? – Socc
For context, there was controversy over Mensur Suljovic in his second round match with Joe Cullen at the 2026 World Darts Championship. Cullen averaged five points more than Mensur, but lost 3-1 in sets. After the game, Cullen straight up accused Mensur of cheating, which… no. Mensur has always thrown slowly throughout his career, and there’s nothing in the rules against it. Cullen knew what he was doing by venting to the media, and that’s what has got us here.
Short answer here – I don’t think it’s necessary. I think the speed of the game has naturally gone up with the younger generation of players coming through, and as a result, I think we’ve become conditioned to it as viewers, hence why I think some had no problem with Cullen’s comments. But there’s always been slower players like Mensur on the tour a la Justin Pipe. Yes, there’s a mind game element in it, it can be inherently distracting, but for some, it’s their game. How many times I’ve eyerolled at Rob Cross for his shuffle in between visits, I’ve lost count.
So yeah, for me, not necessary. BUT IF WE DID implement it, I’d probably say once you’re in the throwing position, you’ve got 12 seconds to throw your three darts. Referee’s discretion for distractions such as an accidental drop of a dart or a flight, something like that. (Socc himself reached out and made a good point, maybe add 30 seconds between frames to trim celebrations a little bit, and an extra five seconds if a finish is required. Call it the Ryan Searle amendment, for obvious reasons. All reasonable to me.)
If said rule is broken, two warnings, dock a frame for the third offence and escalate from there? Does that sound reasonable enough?
As I said, don’t think we need one, but if we did, that’s how I’d do it.
I’m a Mick Schumacher and Logan Sargeant fan. Both had their highs and lows across their 1.5 to 2 years in F1, however, both showed talent in junior categories. What expectations should I have ahead of their Indycar and WEC rookie seasons respectfully? Keep up the great work Dre! – Kieran (You got two, you lucky shi-)
Good question. If you’re Mick Schumacher and you’re joining RLL, the goals I think are simple. Try to get into the Leader’s Circle on points (Top 22), and whatever else you may do, don’t get bumped from the Indy 500, assuming we have a Bump Day, which is likely. Do that, and I think you’re good. Remember, RLL’s cars were 19th, 23rd and 26th in points last year, so a Top 22 finish fits right in. And I’ve personally not seen anything from Jay Fyre to suggest that goal needs bumping up. Maybe their sneaky hire of Ryan Briscoe as a Driver Coach from Prema could have a small impact on the rookie.
I was going to say that Logan Sargeant probably shouldn’t have expectations at all. But then I checked the B Pillar lap distributions for the Rolex 24 and he was 5th fastest on his Top 50% of average laps. Now, this isn’t an exact science and this race was affected by teams sacking drivers in for the six and a ½ hour long caution due to fog skewing the scores a bit, but on any level, that’s a very impressive showing as a rookie. Hopefully Logan can consolidate on that across his year in IMSA’s LMP2 class before going to join Ford’s Hypercar programme. With any luck, Cam Buckley might eat some humble pie on that comparison to Dan Gurney on that press release.
As you said yourself mate, you don’t end up Top 4 in F2 as a rookie without having some degree of talent.
I’ll be back later in the month for a bonus Ask Dre after how long this took to put out, forgive me!