Welcome to the 9th Annual (Sort of, we never uploaded one of them, whoops), M101 Awards Show for the year of 2024! I’m your friendly neighbourhood host, Dre Harrison, and I’m going to do a tight five-minute opening monologue on Airplane food. What’s the deal with that? *canned laughter track*
Given how this was a record-breaking year for the M101 Awards, with more ballots than we’ve ever had for the year, I felt like it was only fitting I write a written accompaniment of all the awards, the winners and how we came to the conclusions we did. So if you’re too lazy to listen to the 150-minute-long Podcast (understandable, honestly), then this might be a little easier to digest. Just like that plane food! *laughter*
A quick reminder of the format! The wonderful M101 audience sent in your ballots for all of the awards, the four most-voted selections made the Podcast, and then I, RJ and Cam would debate between the four and ultimately pick a winner. A 2-1 majority would be enough, but in the event of a tie, I as lead host got the casting vote. Yes, this is ultimately a Dreocracy.
Also for the interest of time, we shaved off the “Collapse” award for the biggest downfall as I felt it was too similar to the Floppy award and we’ll likely combine the two in future years! Got it, good, let’s rock!
Race Of The Year
- British GP (F1)
- The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona
- Brazilian GP (F1)
- Indy 500 (IndyCar)
All three of our picks made the shortlist on this one, and honestly, I’m a little bit surprised the Canadian Grand Prix didn’t make it in, as we all discussed during the show itself. I said in my ballot post that if I were a regular reviewer of sports car races, then the 23:58 of Daytona was another 10/10 race alongside the Indy 500.
F1’s peaky moments were genuine contenders for us, but this was going to be a two-horse race between the Indy 500 and the Rolex 24. Both were very different versions of their normal narratives – The 500 was a race against the sunlight, a more aggressive, nervous race, with the storybook anime ending of Newgarden and O’Ward clashing like that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure picture. Still, the Rolex was just so captivating having Porsche and Cadillac pretty much neck and neck for 16 hours. Their finale with Nasr and Blomqvist at loggerheads, with their version of Schumacher, Hakkinen and Zonta from Spa was incredible in its own right. So with that, we just gave it to Daytona on this one.
The Golden Melon for Best Overtake
- Pecco Bagnaia’s Double Pass at Jerez (MotoGP)
- Albon on Ocon and Ricciardo in Canada (F1)
- Josef Newgarden on Pato O’Ward (IndyCar)
- Tyler Reddick At Homestead (NASCAR)
Another unbelievably stacked category here. Tyler Reddick going the long way around at Homestead, something very hard to do, on the final lap of the race to book a spot in the Playoffs was huge, it was clutch and it was glorious. My personal choice of Pecco at Jerez was 11/10 for degree of difficulty. Double pass. Round the outside. At Pedrosa corner. On Lap 1 with cold tyres and a full tank of gas. Yeesh.
Alex Albon threading the needle in Canada was superb driving. You just don’t do that at the final chicane in Canada, especially in the wet. But given the level of stakes involved with the Indy 500. 235mph, final lap of the biggest single race in Motorsport in a calendar year, and on Pato O’Ward, arguably the best oval racer in the world… phew. Doesn’t get any better than that. If the Indy 500 wasn’t the race of the year, it’s only fair the overtake from it takes Chastain’s Golden Melon.
The Most Improved Award
- Yuki Tsunoda (F1, Racing Bulls)
- Adrien Formaux (WRC, Hyundai)
- Colton Herta (IndyCar, Andretti)
- Haas F1 Team (F1)
This one was a bit more straight forward, only Cam’s pick of Haas made the Final four here, and we all shifted his way when it was all said and done.
Yuki Tsunoda clearly had his best F1 season yet and handled a strong challenge of Daniel Ricciardo pushing at his final chance to continue his career, and a desperate Liam Lawson who had a dangled carrot of a Red Bull seat in front of his face. Adrien Formaux had his best year of Rallying by a mile, with five podium finishes in the 2024 WRC, and finishing 5th in the standings.
Colton Herta would have had a stronger case in this writer’s opinion if he didn’t spin out when running second in the Indy 500 and crashing in Detroit, but he ended the season looking like the title contender we all thought he could be, finally breaking his duck on ovals.
But there was only ever going to be one winner here, and Haas look like a brand new F1 team again. Ayao Komatsu has been a breath of fresh air for the F1 paddock and his more galvanising, pragmatic, thinking man’s approach to running the team has seen them become imo, a Top 6 team in F1 again for the first time since the pandemic. And a Toyota partnership could be huge for them in the future. A worthy winner.
The Anthoine Hubert Award for Rookie of the Year
- Jett Lawrence (Supercross)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Formula 2)
- Franco Colapinto (F2/F1)
- Pedro Acosta (MotoGP)
If you’re not watching more Supercross, you’re probably missing out here. I’ll save the talk for Lawrence until later and you’ll see why. Gabriel Bortoleto was excellent and consistent in a chaotic F2 year in 2024, a year that had 18 different winners across the season and 28 drivers get significant seat time. Same case for Franco Colpainto, who got the opportunity to drive for Williams after Logan Sargeant got replaced, and he grabbed the chance with both hands. He scored points on multiple occasions and gave Alex Albon a genuine headache at times, but I do wonder if that late streak of crashes at the end of the season cooled the hype a bit.
Pedro Acosta won out here and it’s easy to see why. To come into MotoGP as a total rookie, and immediately match their talisman rider in Brad Binder is an astonishing feat. Podiums at 19, the only non-Ducati rider with more than one in GP’s. He was a shining light in a very, very questionable year for the brand on and off the track. Even got a pole position and arguably should have a contender to win in Japan. Yes, he was rough at times leading the league in crashes, but who cares when he was THAT good? Pedro Acosta, Rookie of the Year.
The Best Vehicle Award
- The Boscoscuro B-24 (Moto2)
- McLaren-Mercedes MCL-38 (F1)
- Ducati Desmocedici GP24 (MotoGP)
- Porsche 963 (WEC/IMSA)
We had Jason break the tie by picking the Boscoscuro chassis in Moto2, and it was a sneaky underrated shout. It broke the deadlock of Kalex dominance as a chassis supplier in the class, the first time it failed to win the title since Marc Marquez’s title in 2012. Ai Ogura and Sergio Garcia were the clear #1 team in the class with MT-Helmets MSI this year, and Fermin Aldeguer still showed he could win on a good day.
But again, this was gonna be a two-horse race. The Ducati GP24 won 16 GP’s in MotoGP in 2024, and likely more if it wasn’t through the sheer force of will of Marquez on the 23, and was the only bike that had any chance of competing for the outright title. The Porsche 963 was dominant in just about everything it competed in in 2024, whether it was in IMSA, where they won the Rolex 24 and finished 1-2 in the Championship, or WEC, where second best Vanthoor, past his best Kevin Estre and 80-year-old Andre Lotterer won the Drivers Championship.
But even Cam, the Porsche junkie couldn’t overcome the kicker – Porsche was beaten to WEC’s manufacturer title by a persistent Toyota squad, and that’s what led to Ducati taking this new award.
The Floppy Award For Biggest Disappointment
- Prema (Formula 2)
- Aston Martin (Formula 1)
- Lando Norris (Formula 1)
- Sergio Perez (Formula 1)
A dominant F1 flavour to the Floppy award this year. Prema was an interesting pick if for nothing else, they have been THE dominant force in F2 for years now, but just didn’t get the new car right. But they had enough flashes from Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman that they were never really considered.
Lando Norris had his sketchy moments in 2024, but to say he was a disappointment when no-one ever really gave him a chance going into the season would be extremely harsh. Sergio Perez was the landslide favourite after an awful season with Red Bull, but given how disappointing he’s been for the last three years, the expectation of his disappointment had us steer towards Aston Martin.
Aston at least started the year in decent form, they found something to get them back in the Top 4 hunt. But as the year went on they slipped further and further down the order. By Year’s end, Aston looked more like a team struggling to get out of Q1. Fernando Alonso had very little to play with by then and Stroll went 11 straight scoreless weekends to close out the year. And for this same team to be smug about Adrian Newey and a bucketload of big name staff behind the scenes, what they have right now is a big disappointment. Have a floppy.
The “That Dude Nice” Award
- Franco Colapinto (F2/F1)
- Marc Marquez (MotoGP)
- Kevin Magnussen (F1)
- Valtteri Bottas (F1)
The new “That Dude Nice” award is for the most entertaining athlete, regardless of their results. The vibes award, and there was some good choices here. Again, Colapinto was a little raggedy, but a lot of fun. Kevin Magnussen was the most blatant flouter of the rules of engagement, but it was done for the greater good of Haas’ success, and it worked with flying colours. The man totally leaned into the bit, and that’s what made him so fun. Same with Valtteri Bottas, who has opened up as a person massively late in his career, and producing one of the funniest ads of recent memory when he embraced the Aussie lifestyle for Uber Eats.
But we went for Marc Marquez for being the best antagonist to the title fight in MotoGP. He never had the bike to challenge Pecco or Jorge Martin, but was still good enough to win three GP’s, including a classic in Philip Island and the dripping rain of Misano. Marc is still box office and 2024 was another feather in his cap.
Team Of The Year
- Toyota (World Endurance Championship)
- Ducati Lenovo Team (MotoGP)
- McLaren (Formula 1)
- Penske (IndyCar, WEC, NASCAR, IMSA)
This one kinda felt a little unfair. ALL of Porsche and Penske were kinda blended together here so their combined success in IndyCar, WEC and IMSA took them over the line here.
Toyota won the manufacturers title in WEC this year with winning half the races on the season (Bahrain, Imola, Interlagos and Lone Star Le Mans, sorry AF Corse, totally a customer), and stealing it from Porsche by just two points in the end. Ducati’s factory team won the teams title in MotoGP by over 200 points against Pramac on the same bike, and had 13 wins on the year between Pecco and Bastianini.
McLaren won their first F1 Constructors title in 26 years, but their often clumsy behaviour on and off track with strategy had us steer towards Penske, who as an organisation has become a juggernaut. They won half of the IndyCar races of the season as well as dominating the Month of May. Their collaboration with Porsche led to the WEC and IMSA Drivers titles, they won their third straight NASCAR title with Joey Logano too. If it wasn’t for their cheating scandal, they’d have cleaned IndyCar up too. And what does it say that we picked them in spite of all that?!
#BEATEMDOWN Award
- David Alonso’s 2024 Season (Moto3)
- Marc Marquez (Aragon, MotoGP)
- Porsche’s Total Sportscar Domination (WEC, IMSA)
- Max Verstappen (Brazil, F1)
The Beat Em Down award for the most impressive feat on the year was a tough contest this time around. I’ll talk more about David Alonso in a bit, but Marc Marquez was a viable contender for his Aragon weekend. A Super Grand Slam, leading every single lap of both the GP and Sprint, qualifying on pole by over half a second and most importantly, his first win in 1,044 days. It says a lot when Pecco Bagnaia has to admit there was nothing he could do given Marc was leaning FIVE DEGREES deeper than he could.
Now as much as Porsche didn’t win the WEC Manufacturers title, they did win… everything else. Of the 10 major titles up for grabs between WEC and IMSA, Porsche won NINE of them (WEC’s Drivers and World Cup title, All 6 of IMSA’s GTP Season and Endurance Cup titles, and clean sweep of the GTP titles). Astonishing brilliance.
But we were most moved by Max Verstappen in Brazil. To go from 17th on the grid to winning by 20 seconds, surviving horrible conditions and then laying waste to the field to effectively win the title was astonishing. It ended up all the dialogue about his racecraft, Red Bull’s implosion and McLaren’s comeback, and reminded the world who its best driver is. TKO.
Series of the Year
- Mazda MX-5 Cup (IMSA)
- IMSA
- WEC
- Formula 1
It helps when two thirds of your hosting panel are Sportscar enthusiasts right? Cam went for IMSA after a lot of fun races and a brilliant Rolex, RJ plumped for the Golden Era dialogue of the World Endurance Championship after another great Le Mans and its most fascinating top class in many a year, and I went for F1, who for me had its most compelling season in a good decade.
I ended up being overruled by WEC as Cam took the switch! Which, given Cam only ended up as an M101 guest to rant about the state of the series half a decade ago, goes to show you just how far its come. Also, shoutout to IMSA’s MX-5 Cup, the Motorsport equivalent of doing heroin.
The Never Log Off Award for Funniest Moment
- Russell vs Verstappen in Qatar and Abu Dhabi (F1)
- “Georgina” Falls Onto the Track (IndyCar)
- Pato, Who? (IndyCar)
- Lance’s Stroll Into The Gravel (F1)
All pretty hilarious here in their own ways. Russell and Verstappen’s respective ways of taking shots at each other was hilariously petty. Verstappen outing their stewards meeting, only for George to orchestrate 2021-energy by constructing a carefully worded retort was classic rehashed beef.
IndyCar featured strongly here too. Georgina the mannequin falling onto the track during the GP of Barber was for once, a genuine good bit of PR for the series for a happy accident and the series needed it after the tenseness of the Penske cheating scandal. And after Mark Miles’ rather silly comments about the series missing out on a Mexico City race, Pato O’Ward calling himself out and then winning Race 1 in Milwaukee with a Sombrero was… phew.
But we had to go with Lance Stroll here. Spinning out in the rain on a formation lap would already be mildly embarrassing, but to then drive directly into the gravel trap and clap a DNS, when a perfectly good escape road was already there was unforgivably stupid. It was everything frustrating about Lance Stroll as a driver. And most importantly, it was funny as shit.
The OSW Championship For Best Fight On/Off Track
- Marquez vs Bagnaia (Jerez, MotoGP)
- Newgarden vs O’Ward (Indy 500, IndyCar)
- Kyle Ryde vs Tommy Bridewell (British Superbikes)
- Kyle Busch vs Ricky Stenhouse Jr (All-Star Race, NASCAR)
This one would always boil down to the spirit of the award and whether an on-track battle or the punch-up of Busch and Stenhouse, ala the Fight Club days of Motorsport101, would win.
.@Jordan_Bianchi got a great video of the Kyle Busch – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fight. #AllStarRacepic.twitter.com/dD8qIUYt76
— Always Race Day (@AlwaysRaceDay) May 20, 2024
The latter won because we couldn’t help ourselves. I’m a little bit gutted that Ryde/Bridewell didn’t take this one, it was the single best lap in bike racing since their famous Hill vs Hopkins showdown from 2011, but we love ourselves a good scrap on M101.
Stenhouse throwing a cheap punch, only for his Dad to try and hold him in a Full Nelson, with Bob Pockross’s hilariously meme’d face in the middle trying to capture it as the action goes off around him was tremendous entertainment. It’s still Bob’s profile picture now, so it had to win on this one. Sorry, other Kyle.
The Golden Cock
- Motorsport Stewarding (No-One Knows What A Penalty Is)
- Mohammed Ben Sulayem
- NASCAR
- Christian Horner
The erm… stiffest competition we’ve ever had for the Golden Cock award. All four nominees were more than worthy potential winners.
Stewarding in almost every major series we covered this year was bad. F1’s about to change its rules on racecraft yet again after Verstappen exploited a loophole in charging the apex. Freddie Spencer wasn’t as bad as he’s been but still had the horrible Bez call in Philip Island over a clear case of aero “wash”. IndyCar still insists on leaving stranded cars out without support until its leaders decide to pit. IMSA ended the Rolex 24 two minutes early. Not great. At all.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem pretty much killed every bit of goodwill left with the fans as FIA President. He compared swearing in press conferences to “rapping”, leaving some rather racial undertones under the table. He’s removed many respected members of this backroom staff, some even by text message. According to the BBC, he encouraged Verstappen to support Horner publicly to detract from the investigation into his alleged misconduct. And to close the year, he’s tightened the regulations so he has to sign off on any ethics investigation that goes against the FIA. That sounds a lot like corruption to this writer, but what do I know?
NASCAR once again continues to be in complete denial about its playoff system, enabling Joey Logano to win his third cup series title after being arguably outside the Top 10 on standard scoring. They got themselves in hot water over a repeat of the Ross Chastain pass and whether to let William Byron and Christopher Bell into the Final 4. But their “gun to the head” lawsuit with their teams on the grid, strong-arming almost everyone into signing or else risking losing their charters was incredibly shitty. We’re still rumbling on with a lawsuit between the series and Front Row and 23XI Motorsports, mostly because Michael Jordan has never seen a fight he hasn’t taken on.
And Christian Horner… does he really warrant further explanation?
The chat and my fellow co-presenters all unanimously agreed to award the Golden Cock, to EVERYONE. This was a horrible year for the darker side of Motorsport and honestly, there was not one outright winner that deserved solo “credit”. So for the first time in M101 history, we gave it to everyone involved. Bad stewarding, bad management, bad politics, all around bullshit.
Rider Of The Year
- Jett Lawrence (Supercross)
- Jorge Martin (MotoGP)
- Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (World Superbikes)
- David Alonso (Moto3)
The big ones. I pulled hard for David Alonso here. Quite possibly the greatest lightweight Championship season in biking history. Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing’s first 14-win season, and in a class that was stronger at the top end than any Moto3 field I can remember since around 2012 when it was Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and the late Luis Salom. His racecraft was unmatched. Better than Joan Mir’s title campaign or Miguel Oliveira’s hot streak when he nearly came back to beat Danny Kent. Never being flustered when the group slipstreamed him down the field, always cunning, decisive and when it mattered most, unbeatable over a single lap. So, so good. I really wanted Alonso to win this, but the same criticism ultimately stalled him – It’s Moto3. Riders are likely not fully developed yet. I’d argue Colin Veijer, Dani Holgado and Ivan Ortola is a really strong ceiling, but it wasn’t enough.
Jorge Martin, despite becoming MotoGP’s first independent World Champion since Valentino Rossi in 2001, didn’t even get a sniff here. A shame, his season was a genuine triumph, validation of his confidence in himself to bounce back after 2023’s disappointment, and he learned from his mistakes to become the best all-rounder rider in the world.
Toprak was sensational in World Superbikes this season. Dominated all year long, despite a horror crash in Magny-Cours. 18 wins on the season, including a streak of 13 in a row in the middle of the year. And all of that on a BMW, their first-ever two-wheeled World Championship. BMW gave Toprak a competitive package, and Toprak did the rest. He’s become the Vale of World Superbikes, a figure the series needs. Sod your MotoGP, it’s his house now.
But the winner, was Jett Lawrence, after Cam stuck with him from his original ballot and RJ moved over from Toprak. I get why! Lawrence dominated on dirt biking this year, including becoming just the third rider ever to win the Premier Class 450cc Supercross title as a rookie (Jeremy McGrath and Ryan Dungey being the others), with an average finish of 3.35. To do that in such a quality field is insane, and yeah, if you’re not watching more Dirtbiking, you probably should.
Sorry David. You’re still magic, you know.
Driver (and Athlete) of the Year
- Sho Tsuboi (Super GT and Super Formula)
- Charles Leclerc (F1)
- Alex Palou (IndyCar)
- Max Verstappen (F1, Athlete of the Year, Nomination Record)
RJ didn’t even have to pad the count for Sho Tsuboi to make the nominees list and rightly so. Sho became just the sixth person ever to do the Super GT GT500/Super Formula double, and he was dominant in doing so. Between Sho and teammate Kenta Yamashita, they won the GT500 crown with a round to spare, before taking the Super Formula title with three wins and seven podiums out of nine rounds. Not sure where this will go for him as Sho is already 29, but a brilliant achievement nonetheless.
Charles Leclerc would be a strong contender in another year. An outstanding F1 season with a handful of iconic wins at home for himself, and for Ferrari. I still maintain he had a better overall season than Lando Norris did in a stronger McLaren throughout the season. If only Maranello’s Barcelona package wasn’t such a disaster…
But this was another two-horse race between the two best drivers in the world. Alex Palou was superb in IndyCar yet again for his third Astor Cup in four years. But he just missed out on outright honours last year for one of the greatest IndyCar seasons ever seen, and he wasn’t quite as good this year. The chasing back definitely got closer, and I’d even argue that Colton Herta, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin all left opportunities on the table to potentially win it all and missed. But Palou put them in those situations in the first place by barely giving the rest a sniff.
Max Verstappen was the most nominated recipient ever, 22 of you voted for him and it’s easy to see why. Red Bull’s gap was closed in. Its internal drama almost split the team in two. McLaren, Ferrari, and even Mercedes at times were genuinely quicker than them, and they had Woking bearing down on them down the stretch. And Max had to drive at an unbelievable level just to keep his head above water at times. But he pulled it off, so well in fact that he still ended up taking the title with two races and a Sprint to spare. In some ways, it was even better than his outrageous 2023 of 19 wins and suffocating brilliance.
It’s the one award all three of us unanimously agreed on, so for the FOURTH year in a row, Max Verstappen was our driver of the year, and he became the first person to win the overall Athlete of the Year award for a third time.
Before I go, a huge thanks to Jason_Poland on our Discord server for organising everything in terms of the voting process and putting it together, he’s been an immense help, and of course – For you voting with your time, this was a record-breaking year for the Awards and I’m so glad so many of you chipped in. Be back soon for more here on M101, including a review of the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona!
