Without any shadow of a doubt, the opening lap of the Sprint was the best lap of the season – and it’ll take some beating too. Bagnaia, from P6, launched away superbly to grab the holeshot up the hill into Turn 1. Bagnaia claimed an important P3, just under two seconds away from his teammate. Talk about amplified drama. Rain before the MotoGP Grand Prix of The Americas saw the riders face incredibly tricky conditions heading to the grid. The Frenchman crashed on his sighting lap but managed to get back round to the grid. Just before the three-minute board was signalled, Marc Marquez dashed off the grid. This led to Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio, Alex Marquez and more following suit, with riders and team members sprinting down pit lane to grab the spare bikes that were fitted with slick tyres. Then, fancy another massive slice of drama? Because that’s what we got. Turn 4 was the place, and it was race leader Marc Marquez who was on the floor! The front end washed away as he clipped across the curb too far, hit a wet patch, and with that, the undefeated run was over. Bagnaia brought it home followed by Alex Marquez bringing him at the top of the table and marking an unexpected treat for all the racing fans!

In a shocking turn of events, Red Bull has replaced Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda for the second Red Bull seat (WHO SAW THAT COMING?) after only 2 races in the season. (At this point, Liam’s dreams about driving the RB car must have lasted longer and felt more realistic than his actual stint in the car). This decision followed a lack-luster performance by Liam Lawson, who qualified last in 2 out of 3 competitive sessions he participated in this season. Red Bull believes they need both drivers scoring points to help their odds for winning the constructors title and thereby helping Max retain his throne for the 5th time in a row. (We all know one of those things is a mere delusion). The decision to promote Yuki comes as a last hope to the team who finds themselves with a car only Max can drive. Now with Liam in his familiar environment for the race, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top between him and Yuki in a Red Bull (and more so a deciding factor for Max in the choice of car to fight for the championship).

We all have been sleeping over the newfound calibre of George Russel as he stepped into the team leader role of Mercedes after the departure of Lewis Hamilton. With 2 podiums in 2 feature races of the season, George Russel has stepped his game up. George currently stands 3rd in the championship points table. Many speculate this to be the beginning of Russel’s revenge arc (after witnessing Toto’s blatant love towards his unoffical son Kimi for all the second half of 2024). Toto now feels extremely confident in his lineup and believes that it is proficient in fighting for championships both short and long term. This has also cooled down Max to Mercedes rumours which were revolving around the paddock for all of last year as Toto hung for his life over the 1% chance that Max would change his mind. 

Choose me because I will score you a lot of points.

Lance Stroll has hit hard breaks over all the memes to come out surrounding him and his legendary on-track moments as he made a very strong start to the season by out-scoring his rookie team-mate Fernando Alonso in both the races and currently standing over both the Ferrari drivers in the championship. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso isn’t having the best of times in the team currently, with many expecting to hear his about his 154th retirement anytime now (only make a comeback 2 or 3 years down the line). If Aston Martin can build over their current package, they sure can challenge for the top spot of the middle grid even though everyone wrote them off as they seem to put all their eggs in the 2026 basket. As weird as it might be to hear but this year can also prove a phenomenal one in Stroll’s career, silencing his haters for a lifetime.

A big congratulations to Ankush Ahuja for becoming the ultimate winner of the Grid Master Off 2 Qatar contest! Stay tuned—more thrilling Off 2 Racing weekend contests are coming your way soon!

Take your racing weekend experience to the ultimate level as we buckle up for an amazing tripleheader that kicks off in Japan this weekend! Will it be Yuki in a Red Bull or Liam in a Racing Bulls? Will this be another McLaren Domination? And if so, by WHOM?

Put your racing passion into play and make your dream team on Grid Master in the Japanese GP Contest that is now live!

Diggi Vale Chalo Qatar

Presenting a brand new section of your much-loved newsletter, called DID YOU KNOW? A segment where we take random, interesting, shocking facts, trivia and stories, realising how they painted the motorsport world, how we now see and love!

Sebastian Vettel holds the record for the shortest time elapsed before picking up a penalty. He was caught speeding in the pit lane in practice for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix almost immediately after he had exited the garage, just nine seconds into his career. It cost him $1000.