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(Formula One on Twitter) For the first time since 2019, Formula One will race at Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix. Many things have changed since that time in 2020 when the entire world shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen became World Champions, a new car has been introduced, and Charles Leclerc no longer wears banana suits in quarantine. With 2022 already having two races in its belt with the closest racing we have seen in decades, a trip down under has all the hype in the world to be a very exciting race. Below is everything you need to know for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix Track Changes: Albert Park has undergone massive changes in preparation to the Australian Grand Prix. Starting with its pit lane. In 2019, Albert Park had one of the narrowest pit lanes on the circuit with one of the slowest pit lane speeds at 37 miles per hour. Entering 2022, the pit lane has been widened and the speed has been increased to 49 miles per hour (80 kp/h). On track, Albert Park has widened turns and removed some altogether. The inside lane of Turn One has been winded by 8.2 feet, 13 feet inside Turn Four, 24 feet inside Turn Six, and 11 feet inside Turn 15. The changes at turns 1 and 3 are more in line to create more overtaking opportunities as they are both corners that are preceded by DRS straights. Turns One and Three received some slight banking on the inside of the corner to open up more passing opportunities. Turn Six on the other hand has been opened up more. The previous apex speed through six was around 93 miles per hour. Since the reprofiling of the corner, apex speeds will now be around 136 miles per hour. Now, turn six will lead in to a long, winding 'S' down Lakeside Drive which adds a fourth DRS zone down the backstretch. Turn 11 has been reprofiled as well with a longer braking straight which leads into a tighter radius turn. Overall, the track has lowered lap-times by an estimated 5 second difference and increased the average speed per lap to 156 miles per hour. Event History: Formula One has raced in Australia since 1985 when the series raced at the Adelaide Street Circuit from 1985 to 1995, and a one-off return in 2000. From 1996, due to some behind the scenes politics and capital exchange, the Australian Grand Prix has been hosted in Albert Park. Michael Schumacher leads all drivers with the most wins at four. The only active drivers to win in Melbourne are Sebastian Vettel (3), Lewis Hamilton (2), Fernando Alonso (1), and Valtteri Bottas (1). Schumacher also laid down the fastest lap in Australian GP history during the 2004 event with a blistering lap of 1:24.125. 2019 Race Recap: Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas started 1-2 for the 2019 season opening race at Melbourne and out braked Hamilton into turn one and never looked back in route to a victory. Hamilton finished second and Verstappen rounded out the podium. Bottas became the first driver to win a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race since Maurice Trinrignant at the 1959 United States Grand Prix at Sebring. Driver Lineup: Four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel is returning to Aston Martin Racing after a bout with COVID that kept him out of the first two races of the 2022 season. 2022 Prediction: With DRS seeming too powerful in the 2022 season, it would be safe to say that Red Bull and Max Verstappen would be the team to beat as the showed that the had the aerodynamic advantage the past two weeks to keep up with the Ferrari engine program. Expect both teams to be battling it out for the win. With Mercedes getting aerodynamic upgrades in time for Albert Park, the could contend for a nice mid-points finish as the seem too far back from Red Bull and Ferrari. I predict Verstappen picks up his second win of the season and Kevin Magnussen from Haas F1 gets a podium finish to round out a fantastic weekend of racing. Championship Standings: (Top 3) Charles Leclerc - 45 Points Carlos Sainz - 33 Points Max Verstappen - 25 Points Constructors Standings: (Top 3) Ferrari - 78 Mercedes - 38 Red Bull - 37 Tire Compounds: Hard: C1/Soft: C5 Hard: C2 Medium: C3 Soft: C5 Weather: Thursday: Mostly Sunny, high of 74 Friday: Mostly Sunny, high of 74 Saturday: Mostly Sunny, high of 78 Sunday: Mostly Sunny, high of 80 TV Schedule: (All time EST) FP1 - Thursday, April 7th - 10:55 P.M. - ESPNEWS FP2 - Friday, April 8th - 1:55 A.M. - ESPN2 FP3 - Friday, April 8th - 10:55 P.M - ESPN2 Qualifying - Saturday, April 9th - 1:55 A.M. Australian Grand Prix - Sunday, April 9th - 12:55 A.M. For more Formula One news, results, and opinion stay right here on Racing Refresh. Follow me on Twitter @TheCollinBest

(GPLongBeach on Twitter) After a dominating open to the season by Team Penske by taking victories in the first two races of the season, the first "crown jewel" race of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season is upon us as some of the best drivers in the world will barrel down Shoreline Drive once again for the 38th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Event History: Marked as one of the "Crown Jewel" events on an IndyCar Calander, Long Beach, California has been a staple in open-wheeled racing all the way back to 1984. During the CART/Indy Racing League split, Long Beach was considered all most on par with the Indianapolis 500. Since then and a unification of both series in 2008, Long Beach is one of two tracks on the final schedule of CART to still be on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule to this day. Josef Newgarden set the fastest lap in IndyCar history during the 2018 Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend with a lap of 1:07.5511. Former winners of the event include Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Colton Herta, and Simon Pagenaud 2021 Event: After canceling the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Prix of Long Beach returned to the schedule in 2021 as the season finale race for the 2021 season. Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, and Pato O'Ward all entered with a shot of leaving Southern California with the Astor Cup at the end of 167 miles of racing. Newgarden led from pole position as the field took the green flag. On Lap 31, Colton Herta, who won the previous weekend at Laguna Seca, charged hard on black Firestone compounds and never looked back to take his third win of the 2021 season. Alex Palou took home his first of hopefully many more NTT IndyCar Series championship titles. Track Preview: There are many iconic corners on the Grand Prix layout of the Long Beach Street Circuit that have been staples of iconic establishing shots proceeding on an IndyCar telecast. The Turn 11 hairpin, a blind and the slowest corner on the IndyCar Calander that in 2021, ended the hopes of Pato O'Ward's championship hopes. Down Shoreline Drive and a sequence of turns heads into the fountain carousel. You can see speeds close to 165 miles per hour diving into Turn One and as low as 30 for the Turn 11 hairpin. Passing at Long Beach is easier than most street courses due to the abundance of long straights and very wide 90-degree corners. Race Predictions: With the second street course of the season, many insiders and odds makers will put the favorite to Penske's Scott McLaughlin as one of the odds-on favorites for this weekend's race. That's no surprise as his worst finish so far this season is 2nd at Texas. When it comes to street courses, other names to include would be Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson who were both strong on street courses last year with both drivers taking home wins and Herta being the defending winner of the race. But I still believe Penske is far and away the best team right now in the series and there isn't much debate on who would be close to them. It's not if this driver will win in 2022, it's when. So I predict the winner of the 2022 Grand Prix of Long Beach will be Will Power Championship Standings (Top 3): Scott McLaughlin - 97 Will Power - 69 Alex Palou - 67 Weekend Schedule: (All times EST) Friday, April 8th - Practice 1 - 6:15 P.M. on Peacock Saturday, April 9th - Practice 2 - 11:45A.M. on Peacock Saturday, April 9th - Group Qualifying - 3:00 P.M. on Peacock Sunday, April 10th - Race Warmup - 12:00 P.M. on Peacock Sunday, April 10th - Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach - 3:00 P.M. on NBC For more IndyCar news, results, and opinion. Stay right here on Racing Refresh. Follow me on Twitter @TheCollinBest

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/MartinsvilleSwy)

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/dennyhamlin)

LOGAN MORRIS Each week as the motorsports world looks forward to the next race, I like to take a look back and see what stood out on Twitter. Here are your top ten tweets from March 27th through April 3rd! 10. This pretty much sums it up for some. While the novelty of the throwback weekend has worn off for some I still love it. It remains my favorite weekend of the year, followed closely by the Southern 500 in September. 9. Love it or hate it Ross Chastain's aggressive style is getting noticed in NASCAR. Not all that long ago Chastain's style would be giving him issues in the garage. As Bob Dylan once said, "The times, they are a-changin'" 8. NASCAR's unwritten rules seem to be in a state of transition. It's a topic that has to be discussed. Good on Denny and Nate for doing so. No doubt who is involved plays a role. 7. I know the Gen-6 cars/package was far from everyone's cup of tea in recent years but the nostalgic part of me is saddened by seeing these cars just sit here and slowly waste away. I'd assume some of Chip's winners are in there. 6. It's great to see NASCAR becoming more and more diverse. keep your eye on this young man. 5. You can't overstate how big this is for F1! There isn't a better way to get more American fans to check out the product. Viva! 4. Denny got one for old(ish) guys on Sunday! Can the few remaining grizzled vets fend off the youthful surge in winners ? 3. Ryan Newman made a quiet return to NASCAR taking part in Virginia Is for Racing Lovers 150 on Friday. He certainly seems interested in continuing his career in any fashion he can. Time will tell if he'll be back in NASCAR's Modified Series or any other level in NASCAR. 2. The hometown hero is one of the most unique things about SRX. Looking forward to seeing the series return this summer. 1. What should the future of races at Richmond be has been the subject of some debate after Sunday's race. There's a second stop at Richmond in August, also a day race. I've always loved night races so it's taking some getting used to. I hope to see Richmond on the circuit for years to come, day or night. That'll do it for your top 10 tweets of the week. Keep getting your motorsports news refreshed daily all week long!

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/JoeGibbsRacing)

By Adam Carabine

(F1 on Twitter) After another exciting race of the 2022 Formula One World Championship as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc battling as the laps winded down in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the former eventually taking his first win of the season as Red Bull Racing rebounded from a horrible start at Bahrain. Ferrari is strong early. Ferrari powers six cars in Formula One. Outside the res arrows of Scuderia Ferrari. Teams such as Alfa Romeo and Haas F1 are both powered by Ferrari powerplants. With the worst finish of 15th by Bottas due to a DNF at Jeddah aside, the only driver in the stable to finish outside the points is Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher. With him scoring an 11th place finish at Bahrain and pulled from Jeddah after a horrific crash in qualifying. 2. Mercedes has some work to do. After scoring a podium finish off the Red Bull misfortunes at Bahrain being the only highlight so far for the silver arrows. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have some work to do over the weekend off to prepare for Australia. In Jeddah, Hamilton wasn't able to make it out of round one of qualifying. He made a nice rebound on Sunday by finishing 10th to at least score points going into the off-week. For Russell, he has been the saving grace for the team to keep them in championship contention early with an average finish so far of 4.5. It isn't panic mode yet, but Mercedes has to figure the new car out soon to avoid a mid-pack fight for third in the championship standings by seasons end. 3. McLaren is miles behind. Coming into this year there were very high expectations on the McLaren racing team as young Lando Norris had a career year in 2021 putting the team third in the championship standings. His counterpart Daniel Riccardo brought the "shoey" to F1 by scoring an impressive win at the Italian Grand Prix. This year after two races they have struggled to score points this year. With drivers retiring from Jeddah, Norris moved into to score points for the first time this season. McLaren is really behind the eight ball as the have moved to the back of the mid-field and seems to be competing with Williams to start the year. 4. New car keeps getting high marks. For what seemed like forever, it has seemed like he have not seen this style of racing with the whole pack being closer than ever. It seems like what we are seeing in NASCAR that cars are able to race closer than ever. Passing is trending at it's highest in ten years and on pace to see the most action. With more power circuits being on the schedule than ever before, it would be safe to say we could have another championship battle that is as close as last year.

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the 2nd annual Playoff Forecast project. Projections are calculated by simulating the 2022 Cup Series schedule 125,000 times, using a top-secret predictive formula that is based on 3 important factors: Driver History @ Each Track, Driver Recent Overall History, and Team Performance. How to read it: The numbers in brackets show that driver’s position last week. The percentages in each column refer to the probability of that driver making it to that round. We have also simulated the week's Cup Series race. Check back each week to see who's favoured to win. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @StatChatRefresh Or you can email directly: acarabine@racingrefresh.com Get all your StatChat Merch from the Racing Refresh online store!

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/RichmondRaceway)

LOGAN MORRIS As the rest of the motorsports world looks forward on Monday, I like to look back on what stood out on Twitter. Here are your top 10 tweets of the week for March 20th through March 27th. 10. Given Tide's iconic history in NASCAR, seeing them back with Petty GMS for a second consecutive Bristol dirt race is cool to see. That Gain car doesn't look too shabby either! 9. We will have to see how the appeal process (Not AJ) plays out... but for now at least, Brad is off to a less than ideal start with his new team. 8. Did you set it to Wumbo? 7. I. Need. It. 6. Talk about intense. Speed is alive and well in F1. Drive it like you stole it. 5. With these gas prices, you may be better off. 4. This new era is just getting started, and we're on the ground floor of something special. 3. How cool was it to see the soon-to-be WWE Hall Of Famer lead the field to green? Hopefully, we see The Deadman at the track again in the future. 2. Okay, that'll do it for the Spongebob references for this week. 1. I guess everyone will have to look in the mirror and decide what they can live with. Something about a Sunday that brings out aggression. There's your top 10 Tweets of the week. Be sure to check back here next Monday as we review all the Twitter chaos of this week!

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/RossChastain)

By Adam Carabine

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/KauligRacing)

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the 2nd annual Playoff Forecast project. Projections are calculated by simulating the 2022 Cup Series schedule 125,000 times, using a top-secret predictive formula that is based on 3 important factors: Driver History @ Each Track, Driver Recent Overall History, and Team Performance. How to read it: The numbers in brackets show that driver’s position last week. The percentages in each column refer to the probability of that driver making it to that round. We have also simulated the week's Cup Series race. Check back each week to see who's favoured to win. Note - because COTA has only had one ever Cup Race (that finished in the rain, no less), the simulations are a tad skewed this week. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @StatChatRefresh Or you can email directly: acarabine@racingrefresh.com Get all your StatChat Merch from the Racing Refresh online store!