MOTORSPORT: A level playing field for Ricciardo

The equal machinery Daniel Ricciardo craves is four months away for him – but not in Formula 1.

Ricciardo will compete in this year's Race of Champions against many of the world's other top motorsport figures in identical machinery.

Ricciardo has been frustrated this year at the uncompetitiveness of Red Bull Racing's Renault-powered RB11 car in F1 after he won three grands prix last year in its predecessor, the RB10.

This week he goes to Hungary, where he scored the second of those three victories last year, with a best race finish of fifth this season and standing seventh in the drivers' world championship after finishing third in 2014.

RBR is fourth in the constructors' championship behind mighty Mercedes, Ferrari and Mercedes-powered Williams, with little prospect of a much better RB11 for Ricciardo in the remaining 10 GPs.

But before the F1 finale in Abu Dhabi on November 27-29 he will take part in the Race of Champions at London's Olympic Stadium against – among many others yet to be named – Sebastian Vettel, Petter Solberg, "Mr Le Mans" Tom Kristensen and David Coulthard.

As usual in this event, which has been run for more than a quarter of a century at various venues around the world, they will race seven different types of vehicle – and identical in each category (see raceofchampions.com).

The races are short, sharp and with two competitors at a time.

On the first day – Friday, November 20 – Ricciardo will race for Australia in the Nations Cup with five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, who has competed in the ROC six times before.

On Saturday, November 21, all competitors will race for themselves.

Six-time V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup was Australia's other racer along with Doohan at the past two ROCs – in Bangkok and Barbados.

"It's an honour to be invited to the Race of Champions and I'm really looking forward to racing inside the tight confines of London's former Olympic Stadium," Ricciardo said.

"It will be very different to what I'm used to in F1, but I can't wait to try out ROC's wide range of cars in quick succession.

"It looks like a serious challenge but I'm ready for anything.

"It's also very special to be able to represent my country, especially as teammate to someone like Mick Doohan."

Doohan has won races at previous ROCs and reached individual quarter-finals, while he and Whincup made a Nations Cup semi-final.

Doohan said he was looking forward to returning to a stadium event this year after the longer, outdoor track for last year's ROC in Barbados.

As noted here several times previously, the problem in the rain and fading light at the end of the Japanese GP last October was the heavy recovery crane that Bianchi's Marussia car hit when it ran off the Suzuka track.

He suffered massive head injuries and died last weekend after months on life support in Japanese and French hospitals.

Ecclestone, F1's long-time commercial supremo, has told Britain's Sky Sports News HQ: "The vehicle that he hit shouldn't have been there.

"If that hadn't have been in the place that it was he would have been in the same position as the other guy [German driver Adrian Sutil] who went off and hit the tyre barrier.

"If that truck [recovery crane] hadn't have been there it wouldn't have happened."

Prost, France's four-time F1 world champion, told his country's digital TV channel I-Tele: "It is necessary to speak about a few small miscalculations of the situation with consequences that we pay for dearly.

"We are talking about an accident in pouring rain and with very poor visibility.

"It was necessary to release the safety car to neutralise the race before allowing this truck on to the track [to recover the uninjured Sutil's crashed Sauber car].

"That was a mistake.

"I know the investigation of the FIA found something else."

The report of the large FIA investigation panel blamed the crash on Bianchi not slowing enough under waved yellow caution flags and conflicting software in the car that effectively had it accelerating and braking at the same time, not acknowledging the danger of the recovery crane inside the safety fence so soon.