Hey, I never said we were done for the year entirely! We got a bit of free time, so as promised, here’s the final Ask Dre of 2025, answering questions from the wonderful Motorsport101 community on F1, MotoGP, IndyCar and whatever else takes your fancy! This time around, MotoGP silly season talk for 2026 starting early, more chat about the junior scene, who’s next in F1 to take their milestone victory, and more! Let’s crack open the inbox!
If Fabio Quartararo gives up on Yamaha and becomes a free agent post-2026, where do you think he will land a seat? – Narendra
I’m not going to lie, I’m not a huge “silly season” guy. My mantra is almost always: “If in doubt, pick the sensible option”. With that in mind, I think you’ve got to ask two questions here to set the table:
1 – Is Fabio willing to leave if the Yamaha V4 still has them fighting for minor points?
2 – Is Pecco Bagnaia expendable at Ducati?
It’s a vital time in Fabio’s career. He’s entering his Age 27 season, which for a bike rider, is likely your prime years. Marc Marquez is one of his best friends in the paddock and he’s seen what the former had to do to get back in the winner’s circle. Fabio needs to ask himself – Is it worth another two years of your prime to see if Yamaha finally figures this out? They have nearly limitless resources back in Japan (Have you seen his paychecks?), and I do genuinely think Yamaha will eventually figure this out, but time is the enemy here. Another thing to consider is the huge regulation shift in 2027, and where do you think is the best place to be when that drops?
Personally, if I’m a free agent, I’m eyeing up Ducati. Which leads to question 2 – Is Pecco Bagnaia expendable, because I have no doubt that Marquez will be tied down very quickly. I’ve said that Ducati has been ruthless with their riders before, but this isn’t Iannone or Lorenzo; who committed insubordination with Dovi. This is your greatest rider, and 31-time race winner in red. It’s kind of in your best interest to try and figure this out. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, even if because you’re Ducati, you have a King’s ransom of options, with Fabio probably being one of them.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think Quartararo is the second best rider in the world pound-for-pound, and would be priceless with his raw talent on what should be the strongest bike on the grid. But I think if it came down to it, Ducati would rather stick than twist. If that happens, I think KTM are the most flexible alternative path that the Frenchman could take, with all four seats up in the air for 2027, especially with one very volatile talent that has already expressed having one foot out of the door…
Assuming CFMOTO does eventually inherit KTM’s Racing Division for 2027, where do you think Pedro Acosta will go? – Viandra
Pedro’s made it pretty clear in the last year that he wants to win now, and he wants to be on a Ducati. But again, I stress, does Ducati actually need him?
Look at the strength in depth they have as a brand. Marc Marquez is your flagship rider who can spearhead a team. Pecco Bagnaia is your greatest ever rider (for now). Alex Marquez had a breakthrough season and is now in factory GP26 form as a third wheel. Fermin Aldeguer is your insurance policy and still only 20, even if he isn’t quite on Acosta’s level right now. If you’re Bologna, is there room for Pedro? The talent level slots in nicely, but does the potential fee? Or is he so good that you can dump the data you already have on the four riders mentioned above? Personally, I’m leaning towards sticking.
If there’s no room at Ducati, the problem is, there aren’t many other options. Aprilia I think will keep all four of their riders unless something really messy happens. Honda would certainly take Pedro if offered at the right price, and I think he’s an upgrade on either Joan Mir or Luca Marini. But for who, Chris Kamara? I say Mir, but Honda’s been loyal to the Spaniard who’s guided them through some tricky times. Tough call. Yamaha’s an option, but do you really wanna go there right now?
Interestingly… If you’re Pedro, knowing there could be fresh investment from a big Chinese backer coming, wouldn’t you want to stay and see where this goes?
Who is the next F1 driver to take their 10th win? – PJT
Fun question, annoyingly straight forward answer. Of all the active drivers on the board:
Oscar Piastri – 9
Charles Leclerc – 8
Sergio Perez – 6
George Russell – 5
Carlos Sainz Jr – 4
Esteban Ocon – 1
Pierre Gasly – 1
It’s kinda hard not to pick Piastri here, right? Especially given he’s won 12% of the races he’s ever been in, the luxury of having a great car pretty much from Day 1. And for the people leaning on Mercedes being strongest going into 2026, Piastri will also be on the same power unit, and Rob Marshall’s done pretty well since joining from Red Bull.
George Russell for that very reason is also worth a shout, given Mercedes’ tendency to nail their power units. Problem is, their windtunnel calibration problems that have held them back for the last three years or so. It’s limited not just their winning potential but also understanding how they win. Russell was 48 seconds off of victory in Abu Dhabi last week and Toto Wolff said what he’s been saying for a while: “We still don’t understand these cars.”
Then there’s Ferrari. They have all the potential in the world, they’ve had winning machinery in this regulation set, but… can you trust them? I wouldn’t.
So yeah for me, it’s Piastri. I think he has a much better chance of winning one, before Russell wins five. Sorry for the unsexy answer.
Do you think F1 will get a 12th team in the next few years or so? – Phil Oakley
Hi Phil! Go check out Only Endurance for some good Sportscars (Still love you RJ, this isn’t a Coldplay concert situation)
Short answer: Probably not? Looking at Cadillac, look at how many hoops they had to jump through to eventually get on the grid. They did everything right. Built huge facilities in Indiana and at Silverstone, hired hundreds of staff and acted like they were gonna debut in 2026 even when they didn’t have a confirmed space. They got a factory deal with General Motors, and their own power unit supply (Still not fully convinced they actually build one but that’s for another column), and ponied up nearly half a billion dollars in anti-dilution fees. And F1 was still prepared to turn them away until Dan Towriss walked Michael Andretti into an empty room.
From what I remember, none of the other 2022 bids in the process had anywhere near that kind of seriousness. Rodin didn’t have the juice, LKYSUNZ had… a Twitter account, free social media admins and a dream, and Hitech had [REDACTED] (For legal reasons it definitely wasn’t The Mazepin Family)
I thought the one place that could and thought about it – Hyundai, ended up heading to WEC’s Hypercar and LMGT3 classes via their Genesis sub-brand so yeah, I just don’t think someone else is going to kick F1’s door down anytime soon, and even if they did, what would it take to get in?
Gholdengo or Dragonite for my VGC team? (But more seriously, why does F2 and F3 feel a bit more stagnant this year? Are the cars and tracks just kinda… Bad?) – Alex
If it’s the TCG, Gholdengo. If it’s the VGC, Dragonite, it’s the fan favourite. And the Mega Evolved form is cute!
I can see where you’re getting at Alex. F2 is in… kind of in a weird place. The new Mechachrome car is fine, but still not beating the allegations about reliability and potential biases (Ask Max Esterson on Twitter). The racing isn’t bad, but it’s not setting the world alight, and now it’s got a new problem where F1 acted wildly out of character, started drinking absinthe, listening to My Chemical Romance and hired six drivers in the last 18 months.
Five of them turned out to be good enough where they’ll likely get a second contract. Now that leaves F2 in a tricky bind where someone has to be spectacular to get a seat – Leonardo Fornaroli just became only the fifth man to do the F3/F2 double and he’s a McLaren reserve. Join the Piastri club I guess?
I actually think F3 isn’t too bad for racing either and enjoyed the weekends I watched it, but again, I think the overwhelming dread about the overall state of the ladder isn’t helping. When you check the Discord server and see Trident’s F2 lineup for 2026 is Laurens van Hoepen and John Bennett (And I ain’t in it), it’s hard to feel inspired. It just reinforces the belief that many people have that the entire junior ladder system is broken and there’s no easy fix. If you’re the sort of person who just watches them for entertainment, then fair enough, but I feel that’s an incredibly small niche, within a niche as is. *sighs*
Across all of the major Motorsport you have watched (F1, Indycar, WEC [I had to] and MotoGP) which has been your personal highlights for each? – Toki
You had to drop a Sportscar bit in there again, didn’t you Toki? YOU HAD TO DO IT YOU SON OF A-
Formula 1: Nico Hulkenberg’s podium finish at Silverstone. It was just special wasn’t it? Nico defied his engineer twice during the race due the changeable conditions, but he nailed it both times, got the track position he needed, and then held off Lewis Hamilton down the stretch to be best of the rest behind the McLaren’s. After 237 Grand Prix, Hulkenberg breaking the curse of the podium finish was a truly special moment for one of the sport’s underappreciated veterans. Of course, his prize was a lego trophy.
MotoGP: Marc Marquez’s “More than a Number” – I’m not a boomer yet, I still appreciate a good celebration, and Marc Marquez finally winning his 9th World Championship amongst the hoopla of Dorna’s “What’s a World Championship, really?” bollocks, was perfect. The raw emotion of Marquez finally realising his dream after 5 years of painful struggle and a career-threatening injury, the video montage was perfect, and it just all felt right. He even got to lift the Tower of Champions right there and then as opposed to the end of season gala, a trick F1 I think needs to copy if you ask me. Johann Zarco’s win at Le Mans was a very close second.
WEC: The Rise of Alpine – You know what, good for them. After all the jokes about Mechachrome in F2 and Renault just not cutting it in Viry, it was nice to see the Endurance team go from strength to strength in 2025. A podium finish at the 6 Hours of Spa pushing the dominant Ferrari’s (And as a Schumacher fan cool to see Mick up the front, even if we now know we really didn’t want to be there), and then their first win in Fuji with some tight driving, and an excellent strategy call to get them up the front down the stretch. The beauty of Hypercar is seeing competition and Alpine’s improvement was cool to see.
IndyCar: Alex Palou wins the Indy 500 – Sometimes, it’s just nice when the “right” person wins. Alex Palou had won everything you could win in IndyCar except the Borg Warner. He had a near miss in 2021 when he just finished second to Helio Castroneves, arguably the greatest 500 runner of them all, but this time he wouldn’t be denied, using tricks he picked up from the Brazilian to pass Marcus Ericsson and then use the backmarkers of RLL to stop a counter-attack. His Dad in tears and the run down the yard of bricks surrounded by all the other drivers on his level (None), was the cherry on top for what was for me, IndyCar’s greatest individual season.
Hi Dre, who’s your pick for the second DCR alongside Hauger? – @ScudeRockets
Hi mate! This is an interesting situation, it’s the last available seat in the IndyCar paddock, and there’s been a fair few names thrown up in the air lately. Another reason to be concerned is new partner Todd Ault being a blockchain guy and well… Do you have full faith in the “funny money”? It’s why while in theory Dale Coyne shouldn’t have to take the guy with the biggest cheque, I still fear that’s how this might ultimately play out.
The big name in play is Romain Grosjean, who never really wanted to leave IndyCar when he was unceremoniously dumped by Andretti a couple of years ago. He’s always been keen for a return, but it looks like another opportunity hasn’t quite materialised since then. The other big name is Yuki Tsunoda, but given he’s signed a reserve driver deal with Red Bull, I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere else in the meantime, it’s a clear move he wants to still be in the paddock. Likely same deal for Super Formula Champion Ayumu Iwasa.
Devlin DeFrancesco is a natural funding contender, but his Dad’s now under investigation wioth the FBI so Dev could be too hot. Linus Lundqvist should be in the frame, he won the Indy NXT title in collaboration with DCR and HMD, and had some strong drives in his cup of coffee with Chip Ganassi Racing, but I do fear that the series may have already passed him by. And if DCR needs funding, Linus has never been that kind of driver.
The other name I was thinking of was Conor Daly. The plucky Indiana native fills a big potential weakness in DCR and that’s their oval prowess. Daly was Top 6 in the series for Oval scoring in 2025. The two big problems? He almost certainly doesn’t have all the $10m in funding for a full season, and even if he did, given he was one of the worst drivers in the series on road/street courses last year… Do you want him?
Again, I think this seat is a funding battle, because if it wasn’t, I think it would have been announced by now.
Who’s your pick for IndyCar Rookie of the Year? – Connor
Well, as it stands we have three rookies on the grid for next year – Caio Collet at AJ Foyt Racing, Dennis Hauger at DCR and Mick Schumacher at Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
Would it be an upset to say I have Collet as my favourite right now? The landing spots are huge here. Collet is at Foyt, who proved last year they didn’t need Michael Cannon whispering in their ears to be successful, Malukas nearly had a Top 10 season, which would have been the second in a row for a Foyt driver. I think their infrastructure is better and if Collet is solid, he could get some decent results.
Dennis Hauger had a very good Indy NXT title season this year, but I was concerned he wasn’t quite as comfortable on the ovals as he was on road/street tracks. No shame in that given his European background. The problem is, he’s in a Dale Coyne, and it was a straight-shootout between Jacob Abel and Rinus Veekay to avoid being bumped from the Indy 500. Missing a race would really harm Hauger in a ROTY race if he doesn’t make the field, which I fear could be a risk at DCR, the worst oval team in IndyCar, and have had a car bumped from the field the last two years.
It could be the same for Mick Schumacher. I think RLL are a little better on ovals than their nadir of Rahal’s 500 bumping in 2023, and they have some tracks they’re busted on like Road America and the Indy Road Course that could be a huge boost, but we just don’t know what Mick’s going to be in an IndyCar, and he’s in one of the weakest teams on the grid too.
So for me, I think Collet, even if DCR gets another rookie in their second car between now and March.
What was the most cringe worthy moment of the season and why was it Zak Brown’s radio message to Lando as he crossed the line in Abu Dhabi? – Sian Ellen
Serious answer: I fear that Alpine’s team orders for P17 in Austin might be the moment that was truly eyeball scratching.
Unserious Answer: It’s classic Zak Brown isn’t it? The moment he knows he can slap the radio on and give it the big one, he’ll take it. As much as he clearly couldn’t stand Christian Horner, I think he revelled a lot in his jabbing with him and think they have a lot more in common than he’d admit, especially the “I’m going to make this about me” angle. Man’s on a media tour as we speak right now, not even Christian is that media-savvy!
Listen, I don’t wanna play the stereotype too hard here, but I’ve been to University with marketing people when I did a Business Studies degree, and dealt with them when working with Paddy Power and my two major Motorsport jobs. They are absolute sickos, lovely people, but have to be full of shit at times because they have to be to sell you something. And Zak’s one of the best marketing dudes I’ve ever seen in F1. He is genuinely awesome at getting people to buy into his brand, even in the short term. Pulling in sponsors like Google, Coca Cola, Dell, Richard Mille, eBay, CNBC… Zak’s really good at it.
But like in any walk of life, answer me this? Do you ever LIKE the salesman? We can’t all be Matt Smith in the Bunny Munro Sky series after all…
Any racing games you’re looking forward to in 2026? – Dared00
A few – Ride 6 is out in February, I’ve been playing through 5 and enjoying it, but I do worry it might be a bit too similar in terms of raw content, but we’ll see. The big one for me is Forza Horizon 6, the fact we’re finally getting the Japanese landscape the fans have been asking for is huge, but I do worry about how stale 5 got very quickly because of how bland its map was. They’re teasing that 6’s is even bigger, which worries me. And with Forza Motorsport seemingly dead because of how bad 2023 bombed, this could be Microsoft’s last AAA racer.
I’m also very curious to see what Screamer, also from Milestone, turns out to be. I like the idea of a drift mechanic based racing game and as a spiritual successor to the original, but it also looks VERY complicated in terms of mechanics so I’m a little hesitant to fully back it. Love the ambition from Milestone, who seems to be the racing game developer of the AA studios but again, we’ll see.
What’s your opinion on EVERYTHING happening at Liverpool right now? – Scuderia Max
It’s felt like this has been coming for a while at Liverpool. Mo Salah was in an awkward place. He exploded in the first half of the 24/25 season, but dropped off a cliff hard down the stretch. Liverpool kinda had to give him a new contract despite prolonging it as long as they could, but with Year 2 in Arne Slot’s offence, Salah’s mostly been ineffective. A three-game benching later, and Salah lashes out via the media, bashing Slot, the front office and even Jamie Carragher, the football pundit most likely to shrink into a corn cob like the Dril tweet if pressured. Salah wasn’t even in the squad for Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League last night.
I think there’s multiple facets at play here. Firstly, Salah lost his greatest creative weapon – Trent Alexander-Arnold going to Real Madrid. Trent was incredibly good at backing Salah up, working the right hand flank and playing to Salah in that inside-forward zone, or passes into the 18-yard box. The other is Dominik Szoboszlai becoming the leader of the midfield creatively and moving into Salah’s spaces with the ball. That’s made Salah have to try and adjust for that, and he’s struggling. Combine that with the fact that Salah is in his Age 33 season, doesn’t want to play off the bench or adapt to Slot’s changes, and you’ve got a nasty standoff. Oh and did I mention the club spending over £300m on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekiteke? Doesn’t sound like you’re a man for the future.
Mo Salah has always been a prima donna, even by footballer standards. He knows at this point that he’s a club legend on raw numbers alone. And he’s never been afraid to get his hands dirty, whether it be via the media, social media, or in the negotiation room. I mean, posting gym pictures when you’re going through it as the team travels to Milan? A classic.
The thing is, if he wanted the manager gone, he may have overplayed his hand. Liverpool sit 10th in the league at time of writing, with one win in their last five, 10 points of the league lead and with a goal difference of zero. Slot’s seat is white hot and I said he might not make Christmas if this holds up. This is the sort of thing that wouldn’t have happened under Klopp’s tenure.
Salah probably ought to apologise and stem the bleeding. The other star players like Allison Decker and Andy Robertson having to address it publicly helps no-one in a locker room, likely already struggling to deal with the loss of Diogo Jota, and subpar performances. But we’ll have to see who backs down first, and then what happens in January. Does Liverpool sell Salah to Saudi Arabia?
Ask Dre will be back in the New Year, see you then!