ROC starts in Sydney, with late replacements among the participants

      The Race of Champions starts in less than an hour in Sydney at the Accor Stadium, but the day before, the participants got acquainted with the track and the equipment they will have to pilot. Here are just a few opinions from former Formula 1 drivers about what awaits them this weekend.

      "I realized one thing: you have to slow down here late to make the car fit into the turn! – said Valtteri Bottas, who prepared a special version of the helmet design for ROC, and added cheerfully. "I'm still waiting for my Australian passport, so I'll keep an eye out for any important person here at the stadium who can help bring this matter to an end!"

      "I got to know the track a little bit, and that's good. It's fun to drive on it, but skidding the car too much won't work here," said Sebastian Vettel, four–time world champion. "However, I really enjoyed it, I feel like just a little boy who can play here!"

      Mick Schumacher, Vettel's German team-mate, said: "In my opinion, winning the Nations Cup should be our main goal this weekend."

      The parallel race track with a lap length of 1 km, laid on the stadium field, is a "squiggle" of a rather tricky configuration, and it is really very narrow, and the turns on it are quite steep, so you can expect that there will be a lot of mistakes. And when a rider hits the guardrails, according to the ROC rules, penalty seconds are awarded for this.

      For example, David Coulthard had already crashed quite hard into the barriers in a Polaris buggy during training, and when he was driving a Subaru sports car, the car turned around. But this did not spoil the Scotsman's mood, and out of an excess of emotions, he even sang one verse from an old Scottish song, the essence of which is that its lyrical hero is ready to walk any distance just to achieve his goal.

      David probably meant not only his fighting spirit, but also the fact that this time, in order to participate in the ROC, all representatives of European motorsport, including him, had to go to the ends of the earth to Australia. However, it's not that far from Sydney to Melbourne's Albert Park, where the Australian Grand Prix will be held just a week later - less than 900 km along the M31 motorway.

      There were several substitutions in the ROC members at the very last moment. Jamie Whincup will be replaced in the Team Australia Supercars team by 27-year-old Brody Kosteki, the 2023 Supercars Series champion and winner of the Bathurst 1000 Mile race. By the way, Kosteki is from Perth, as is Daniel Ricciardo, and his driving style is usually distinguished by his dash.

      Chaz Moster, another driver of the Australian Supercars bodywork series, has replaced Matthias Ekstrom, a four–time winner of the Race of Champions - the Swede will not be able to participate in the ROC "for medical reasons." Due to Max McRae's injury, Coulthard's new team-mate in the UK team will be Alistair McRae, the father of the young Scottish rally driver.

      In today's Nations Cup, Finland, France and the All-Star team (Johan Kristoffersson and the aforementioned Chaz Mostert) will meet in Group A in the first round. According to the results of the draw, two teams from Australia and a team from New Zealand entered Group B. The teams from Germany, the USA and the UK were placed in Group C.

      In the quarterfinals, the winner of Group A will be joined by the Norwegian team, which automatically qualifies for the second round as the winner of last year's Nations Cup.