You guys brought the heat on this one. Welcome to the biggest Ask Dre Inbox I’ve EVER received for a monthly post, thank you all so much! Welcome to Ask Dre, the post where you ask me questions about Motorsport and beyond and I’ll do my best to answer them. In this edition, Sauber’s future, Football and the Manchester United and England jobs, Andretti and whether they still have a shot of making the F1 grid, the new Toyota/Haas partnership, and my new obsession with Poker Roguelike, Balatro… enjoy!
I know I rag on them a lot, but genuinely; What do Sauber do about their driver lineup next year? Given their form this year, the 25′ car will probably be in the same ballpark and Audi comes in from 2026 BUT they might not be up to speed immediately. – Evan
It’s a bit of a tricky one, isn’t it? Audi doesn’t seem too sure about wanting to fully commit to having an experienced line-up, or whether they want to give a shot to one of the younger hotshots that have recently impressed. I think snagging Nico Hulkenberg early was an intentional play given how well he’s driven in 2024, and now they have the luxury of being able to take their time as the rest of the grid (Barring more Red Bull nonsense), is now locked in. So let’s weigh up the options:
Valtteri Bottas: Likely the favourite. Current Sauber #1 driver, he’s comfortably been better than Zhou Guanyu in their three years as teammates, becoming more marketable by the day, and is still a safe and solid pair of hands. Between him and Hulk, you’re looking at over 450 combined starts. It’s a line-up that can match anyone in the midfield. And you even have the option of keeping the contract light so if someone brighter comes along in 2025, you have an opening.
Franco Colapinto: The hotshot. Williams has already said they could loan him to Sauber for a year if it means getting him seat time and the Argentine has come in and immediately shown he’s far closer to Alex Albon than Logan Sargeant ever was. On his three GP’s so far, you’d think he was good enough to be on the grid, but has his chance come too late, and would his Williams form convert to a worse car?
Gabriel Borteleto: It’s funny. If someone were on the brink of winning back-to-back F3 and F2 titles, the sport would have been falling over themselves to tie him down. But when you come up in a risk-averse timeline in F1, you spend most of your F2 season behind Isack Hadjar in the standings and Ollie Bearman and Kimi Antonelli take all the headlines, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. And we’re talking about only the fourth driver in modern history to pull that off if he gets there (Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri the other three). He’s an exciting wildcard but is he just a little too raw for a quick promotion?
I think it’s easiest just to keep Bottas for another year and see what the landscape is like in 2025, but what say you readers?
How confident are you that Perez will be in a Red Bull in March 2025? – GalarianMike
Reasonably confident, Mike. Not for the first time, Red Bull’s in a really weird spot right now. Perez was set to be cut from Red Bull over the Summer Break, but the team’s admittance they refused to listen to his feedback in the wake of Verstappen’s dominance last year likely bought him some time, but Singapore was another reminder of how poor he is relative to Max. Barely finishing in the points and being unable to pass Franco Colapinto was… not a great look. Between Zandvoort and Monza I don’t think he was too bad, funnily enough.
I think Perez’s future will ultimately hinge on what happens with Liam Lawson’s second cameo at RB. If he goes in and smacks Yuki Tsunoda around, he puts himself in the window for Perez’s seat for 2025. If he’s similar to Ricciardo and he roughly breaks even, I think we’re right back where we started again and Red Bull will stick with the status quo. The management dissension in Milton Keynes doesn’t seem to be helping either, with Marko adamant that Lawson’s the guy, and Horner seemingly giving Checo (Like he did with DR3), every chance to justify his spot.
If I were a betting man – I’d give you a 60% chance that Perez stays, as I’m not convinced Lawson is miles better than an improved Tsunoda. But we’ll see.
Circuits to get cut from the F1 2026 calendar? Reckon some will get rotational spots? – Chaz Bradley
Hi Sir Charles! I think we’re getting rotational rounds in the next few years. Everyone in the sport is adamant that 24 is the hard limit for the calendar, with the FIA confirming this week that they’d have to hire a second crew if they went to 25 races and beyond. So that makes rotational slots almost inevitable. With the sport keen to expand further into Asia with Thailand and South Korea set to join, and Africa seriously on the agenda for the first time in decades with Rwanda throwing their hats into the ring, something has to give.
If I had to guess, I think Imola would be the first to go. It’s on a shorter contract than just about everything else on the calendar, and I don’t think it fits the overall vibe of what the sport wants with its: “We want 25 Superbowls”, energy. I think the Verstappen races of Belgium and Zandvoort might end up rotational due to their lack of funding year-round. You might have to throw Monza in there too because it always ends up under review due to finances.
Rightly or wrongly, if the calendar gets squeezed, it’s Europe that’s taking the bullet, not the Americas.
Thoughts on how Ayao Komatsu could bring Haas further forward with the Toyota alliance? – KorewaKicksAss
I loved this news drop because Toyota was insistent on telling people: “Please don’t say that we’re back in F1!” before the Motorsport general media said: “TOYOTA’S BACK MOTHERFUCKERS, YEH”.
Let me make this clear, this is a technical partnership that will help out Haas in all the unsexy ways in terms of infrastructure and production. They’re going to be building Haas a simulator, they’ll be sharing resources with the Japanese factory manufacturing more of the car’s parts, Haas isn’t taking Toyota engineers yet, etc. I think people have grossly overestimated just what this partnership entails for now.
My general vibe right now is that we just let Komatsu cook. His more “bird in the hand”, pragmatic approach has been brilliant at Haas, maximizing the bang for your buck for being F1’s smallest team, actually developing a competitive car package and in less than a year he’s gotten Haas off the bottom and in a genuine fight for a Top 6 finish. Let’s see how this relationship develops for a couple of years and go from there, Haas is walking proof that fortunes in F1 can change very quickly.
If Casey Stoner doesn’t retire. How many championships do you think he wins? – Fredster332
Hi Fred – Great question. It’s probably the biggest modern-day “What-if” in MotoGP history, what happens if Casey Stoner doesn’t retire from the sport at the end of his Age-27 season?
For those who don’t know, there were a lot of elements that likely shortened Stoner’s career – His general love for the sport fading as the bikes went from 4-strokes to Prototypes, the anger towards it as it seemingly moved on too quickly from Marco Simoncelli’s tragic passing in 2011, the media and other obligations that came with the sport, and likely his misdiagnosed chronic fatigue during his Ducati days that the latter thought was a lactose intolerance. Yikes.
Assuming Stoner has none of those things and he has a pretty typical MotoGP career till Age 35 or so, there’s one big hurdle that gets in the way – How does he fare against Marc Marquez? Honda was preparing to let Dani Pedrosa walk at the end of 2012 for Marc to join Repsol in 2013, but Stoner’s early retirement announcement saved them the bother of having to make that call.
We just don’t know what Stoner would have done on a modern prototype, and Marquez adapted to the top flight quicker than just about anyone we’ve ever seen. I do wonder if Stoner’s extra experience would make him an immediate contender in 2013, which was probably the most vulnerable of the Marquez Championship years. Is he 35 points better than Pedrosa’s prime in 2013 to bridge the gap to Marc? Because from 2014 onwards when Marquez found his feet, it’s hard to see where Stoner won one because Marquez was so much better than the field for every season besides 2016 when Yamaha blew it for themselves.
These are fascinating questions that we’ll never get the answer to. My gut feeling is that Marquez is such a freak, Stoner would have had to have left Honda to go to Ducati in the Mid-2010s to have a chance and see if he’s better there than Andrea Dovizioso (I think he might have been), and even then, would that be enough to beat Marquez’s prime over a season? I have my doubts, but I say that as someone who thinks Marquez has a genuine GOAT argument, so I’m naturally a bit down on Stoner’s chances – Which takes nothing away from the man, he was a monster.
Are the 2026 F1 regs gonna be that bad? Or are people just catastrophising now we have a closer grid, even if the racing itself is worse (arguably)? – Alexander Pitt
I think it’s a bit of a 50/50 here, Alex. From my understanding, I think there are reasons to be concerned about the 2026 regulations. The cars are still pretty big, even in their slightly smaller form, there could be big arguments about the changeable aero devices (X/Z wings) and how much of an impact they’ll have, such as the potential for following cars from behind, and there’s still potential for big discrepancies in top speed if the changes, given the tweaked rules about power deployment if you’re within a second of another car. In other words, if you haven’t liked the last three years of this regulation set, there’s a lot here you’re probably not going to like come 2026.
However, I do think a part of that stems from as you said Alex, the nature of the fact we lowkey, got what we wanted. If anything, these regulations did their job a little too well – Red Bull’s dominance lasted less than two seasons, and their lack of windtunnel time allowed the field to catch up. We’ve had four teams win multiple GPs this season and now we’re in a good place, the whole sport gets blown up again in barely a year. A lot of fans don’t like the general principle of F1 where regulations change roughly every five years so you don’t get bored of the same teams winning every week. I can see why that might be frustrating for the average fan but that’s the risk you run with a sport where you have to balance integrity and entertainment.
What other video games outside of Balatro have you devoted your free time to and or at least, been keen to try out? – Wesley Sanchez
Hey Wes! Yeah, if you’ve been following me on social media for some time by now, you’ll know, I’m a bit of a Balatro fiend, I’ve got 140 hours and counting on PC and Mac, and about another 20 hours on the Mobile release back in September. If you haven’t tried it out yet, I highly recommend it – It’s Poker, meets Solitaire with “Slay The Spire” Roguelike elements. Easy to pick up and with so much depth to master, it’s devilishly addictive but the most fun I’ve had with a video game I’ve had in years. It taps into card games, the maths nerd in me, and the tactical decision-making element of it. I adore this game.
There’s been a couple of other games with similar concepts I’ve been trying out, like Aetenjo, a Balatro-esque roguelike but more based around the ancient game of Mahjong and Rogue Rollout, again, similar elements but based around Yahtzee. Beyond that, I’m a big trading card game enthusiast, so I do play Pokemon’s TCG on the side, I did a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh’s Master Duel as well.
I love my racing games so I did a fair amount of Forza Motorsport and Horizon 4 and 5, I love Dynasty Warriors and dumped about 250 hours into the eighth game (Xtreme Legends of course). Definitely on my list is the the new Mario Party game coming out this week (Jamboree), and the new Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero fighting game. As someone who adored the Budokai Tenkaichi series, that as a spiritual successor is something I’m gassed to play. Then again, two modern-day AAA games out within a fortnight… Patreon.com/Motorsport101, just saying…
Will Andretti’s ousting help the team’s ambitions to get into F1 and if so, should we care that it’s not led by an Andretti anymore? Even when the name is arguably why they got so far anyway? – Connor Edwards
Well Connor, first up, I don’t think Michael Andretti’s been “ousted”. I think him stepping down was a genuine reflective decision. He’s 62 years old now and has been running a Motorsport team of some kind for 22 of them. That’s a big innings and with him now living as a Grandfather, he very well might be wanting to spend more time with his family.
I can’t tell you how to feel about Andretti as a whole. On the plus side, it should mean something. they’re the biggest (imo), Motorsport brand in America. Mario Andretti is a genuine celebrity name and one of the few recognisable racing drivers the US has had in the last few decades, with two generations of drivers in F1, and three in IndyCar. If that means something to you, then great, if not, think bigger.
Andretti convinced General Motors to join forces in the first place. It made sense as a tie-up, General Motors has an astonishing amount of cash and resources to build their power unit and has the clout of being one of the biggest car makers on the planet, Andretti has the more fine-tuned Motorsport infrastructure in place and is expanding on two continents to facilitate an F1 team.
The fair question to ask at this point is – How much does one need the other? Because the latest talk I’ve heard is GM is prepared to go it alone if Andretti’s done more harm than good on the negotiating table, given Michael’s approach was, shall we say… bullish? He dropped a lot of home truths about F1’s greed, but dissing shareholders in the sport you’re trying to enter is never going to help your case.
I think even without the Andretti name, a lot of fans want an 11th team, even if it’s not with them. The things we care about as an audience will all come through regardless of branding – More competition, more drivers on the grid, more drama, and if it’s Cadillac, another manufacturer, a positive sign of growth within the sport. I’ve got no emotional skin in the game if that entity has an Andretti Global badge on the side.
Who picks up the poisoned chalice and becomes England’s next manager? – OtherConor
Well, in the day since this question was posed, we now know it will be Thomas Tuchel. It seems that Lee Carsley was never truly serious about wanting the job after you know… not formally applying for it, and the press was completely in the dark that the deal had been done over a week ago while they had to switch narratives from: “Hire the best coach, go get Pep!” to “What do you mean he’s not English?!”. Poor Carsley, we spooked him into playing Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden together and then bollocked him when he did. Man.
"I strongly believe that we can do this together." ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ULC53elJsn
— England (@England) October 16, 2024
Yeah, I like this hire. Thomas Tuchel is a superb coach. Yes, his more recent track record isn’t optimal, but there’s mitigation there, PSG was unserious, Chelsea’s locker room is poison and Bayern Munich’s front office was a hot mess. Tuchel is a great possession coach, he’s not afraid to make tough decisions with player selection, and he’s always been keen to embrace the quality of English players. And, he’s an excellent tournament coach, something Gareth Southgate seemingly got away with because he was always afraid to change from Plan A.
So yeah, I think this is a really good hire. So, how do we fuck this one up?
A non-motorsport question, who would be your cyclist of the year? – Max
In my limited cycling knowledge (It’s been my first year watching as a fan), it’s pretty much a two-horse race here, right? Remco Evenepoel taking the World Championship time trial gold, alongside being the first man to ever do the Olympic Time Trial and Road Race double, as well as winning the white jersey at the Tour De France makes him the comfortable runner-up. But let’s not mess about here, it’s Tadej Pogacar.
Pogi won the Triple Crown of the Tour De France, the Giro D’Italia and the World Championship Road Race. I know Jonas Vingegaard was coming in hurt and not at 100%, but for Tadej to win by over six minutes against another Hall of Famer while winning six stages was bonkers. He made the Giro look easy, and then he attacked at the World Championship Road Race from 100 kilometres out and was untouched the whole way. Then just to cap it off, he won two of the classic Monuments – Il Lombardia and Giro dell’Emilia.
This is going to give my Grammarly app heart palpitations, but Tadej Pogacar is the himminest him that’s ever himmed. If there’s a more dominant athlete in world sport right now, I’d love to see them. And to think… he didn’t even bother with the Vuelta.
IMSA or WEC? – UnpaidIntern
Go follow and Subscribe to UnpaidIntern by the way, an excellent opinionated tweeter and YouTuber and one of the best black content creators in Motorsport. Seriously.
Honestly, I don’t have a huge preference for one over the other. I’m not a hardcore Sportscar enthusiast yet, but if it’s a quiet weekend and there’s nothing else on, I’ll stick an IMSA or WEC round on and have it as background material while doing something else, that’s neat. I probably like IMSA a little more as some of their rounds are 2:40 instead of 6-8 hours and that’s just a friendlier watch, but yeah, it’s good stuff all-round.
How long will it be before Ten Hag gets the sack and who will take over? – Joe MacMillian
I was one of the people who said Ten Hag should have been sacked before the season had even started. He just isn’t a good coach and his recruitment was poor. FA Cup or no FA Cup, we were extremely lucky to finish in the top half of the table. Our defence was relegation bad and our midfield was so erratic that every game felt like I was suffering from Angina.
He should have been sacked in the off-season, he should have been sacked this week during this International break, and yet he’s still here. I don’t know what INEOS is waiting for, it’s pretty clear he’s not going to turn this team into a Top 4 side again, and I feel like we’re wasting our time waiting for a miraculous change that isn’t going to happen.
The problem now is that the ideal man to replace Ten Hag is now off the market – And for me, that would have been Thomas Tuchel, who’s now got the England job. I was thinking of Sebastian Hoeneß at Stuttgart, but I don’t think he, or Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen want to leave their great jobs right now. Beyond that… I’ve got nothing. Graham Potter if he wants to get back into coaching? Phew…
What are your personal hopes & goals for 2025? – Marj
Honestly, Marj – I’d like some stability. Real talk, the last 18 months for me have been absolute chaos. Professionally, I was so happy to finally reach my dream of being a professional journalist/broadcaster at WTF1, but it quickly turned into a nightmare with the decision-making behind the scenes, the constant criticism of never being able to do the impossible and replace Tom, Matty or Katy, and always having the fear of that axe hanging over my head. I promise you, I gave that gig everything I had, and it bludgeoned my mental health in the process. I knew going in, that there was a significant chance it would fail, but I did it anyway because I had the attitude that if I turned it down, I might not ever get the opportunity again. And I’d much rather take the chance than spend a seventh year in the Gambling Industry when I used to work for Paddy Power.
Just when I felt like I had some hope or that we were turning a corner, I was told I was being let go at the end of September. I knew the writing was on the wall with the WTFTalent expansion – The rise of the influencer was always going to make them more money in the long run and my role was always expendable by comparison. It’s a business and my head was worth five figures a year. When you’re making cuts, staff will always be your biggest overhead. That’s life.
But it was the worst Christmas of my life knowing I was entering January 2024 unemployed. I was riddled with fear and anxiety desperately trying to stay in adjacent roles in the industry and after three months of furious applications, friends reaching out and rejections, it was a lot of back-and-forth chat before I got the Autosport gig, after going down to my last month in savings. So I had the relief of getting a second chance and getting back on the wagon… only for me and my girlfriend to split up a couple of months later. Not on her, I was selfish and put my career and my feelings first and that’s something I need to learn and grow from.
And even with this job which I’m delighted to have, the fear of what came before combined with a six-month probation still hung over my head too. I cleared that hurdle last month so things finally feel like I’m settling in. So with ALL of that hanging over my head, I’d like 2025 to be a year where I feel like I’m stable in my career and my surroundings and then work from there.
I’d like to be able to manage my time a little better so that I can make more room for Motorsport101 activities, as well as spend a bit more time with my family, who have made a lot of sacrifices and understanding to enable me to push for all of this. Honestly, I’d love to get back on the dating scene too, because the job can sometimes be a lonely one and I miss the companionship. Wouldn’t mind losing a bit of weight too. Alas, such is life.
Now, this was definitely a case of oversharing, but I wanted to be honest and open about things because that’s the sort of person I am. Is it risky? Yes. But I want to be true to myself, and to you, because I have the utmost respect for my audience and I owe them that for sure.
And finally… Ideal PB/J ratio? – RJ O’Connell
Not the right man to ask RJ, mostly because I don’t like peanut butter… or jelly. I know, I know.
Thanks for reading the longest Ask Dre I’ve ever done, props if you’ve made it this far and thanks for asking the questions! See you in November!
