Roaring Singapore! (pt. 1)

Wow! What an exciting day to be a Sunday! For many, who had so far experienced on television what each time has no less than an astonishing 500 million TV viewers (!), the time had come for the first time to experience the highly popular and fastest sport on earth live! Finally the much talked-about and highly anticipated day of the race had arrived – the first ever Formula 1 night race as well as Singapore city race, on the last Sunday of September 2008. Needles to say the excitement and expectations were high, with many first-time attendants in the audience in form of the local audience, and also many others who could not resist the combination of a night and city race – in the middle of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant city. Up to 40 000 foreign visitors were flying in for the Singapore Grand Prix which was also enjoying the novelty of being a new race circuit.

 

Everything is possible in Singapore these days it seems; from building landmark attractions as the Singapore Flyer (the world’s largest observation wheel) to the upcoming astonishing Marina Bay Sands Resort & Casino complex. And now the city state had taken on the challenge of shouldering the burden and responsibility of organizing such a huge and costly event as Formula 1 Grand Prix, in the view of placing Singapore on the world map, not just as the hub for financial services and trade it already is, but also as a destination in its own right (part of the city’s global ambitions and among many more forthcoming attractions of world class). And the corporate world was up for it; with local Singtel as main sponsor. So, would they achieve success in becoming the 'Monaco of the East'?

 

And while the F1 car drivers were still in deep sleep – especially Felipe Massa probably having really sweet dreams, having achieved pole position during Saturday’s qualifications – the day for this reporter started very early in the wee small hours of the morning, in order to catch the early flight from Bangkok to Singapore. Action – Go! Singapore had pulled the whole thing off; now it was just a matter of preying to the weather gods to keep rain at bay – in a city state famous for its downpours.

 

Somewhat surprisingly the AirAsia flight was not full with excited Formula 1 fans, but of course most of them were already on site to see the qualifications and enjoy three nights of high drama and festivities, including the many fringe events throughout the week and weekend as the culmination of the inaugural Singapore River Festival (offering concerts on the river with international and local artists, outdoor parties etc.).

 

The choice of a convenient nearby hotel was a priority and with nearly not enough rooms available for an event of this scale, the hotel industry were doing great business with special – obviously significantly higher – Formula 1 prices, and Park Royal On Beach Road did fit the bill well, at least in terms of location – only a ten minutes’ walk from the nearest entrance to the circuit.

 

Most hotels also required a minimum stay of three nights if booking for this “blocked” weekend. And of course rooms at hotels facing the 5.067km-long street circuit – and there are quite a few of those – were understandably pricey (such as Mandarin Oriental and Swissotel The Stamford.  Though, if staying in any of those hotels one could thus “save” money on avoiding buying tickets for official access.

 

When it comes to tickets for the actual race, the sales could be seen as a miscalculation. The demand for walkabout tickets was clearly much higher than the number of tickets available. All other grand stand tickets clearly came at a much higher price than the money many ordinary Singaporeans were willing to spend.

 

But mainly this was a flop in terms of giving proper information. Upon a visit to the ticket sales desk at Marina Square shopping centre back in August it had yet not been publicly announced that the walkabout tickets had in fact been sold out already in June! Also the personnel in the ticket booth witnessed of dubious and insufficient information conveyed to them from the organizer, which led to a lot of disappointments among the fans. This will most certainly be improved for next year! Nothing can be perfect when premiering an operation of this scale. But one was certainly taken by surprise, when such basic information was not distributed. Extra walkabout tickets had indeed been allocated. Would there be more? Nobody knew.

 

On the contrary to what had been reported in the media only a few weeks before the race, that tickets were changing hands at lower than face value, turned out to be nothing less else than a rumour. The demand for tickets was there; with quite a few persons outside the gates hoping to get to buy a last-minute ticket, though there were no tickets for sale and none in sight on the black market either. So it is a correct conclusion to say it was as sold out it could possibly be.

 

One must also have in mind that obviously there is a maximum of how many people can actually attend the race, due to the natural limitations of space available. Though given the stretch for the race, it still allowed for an impressive 100 000 spectators along the business district and marine area route. It’s as if Singapore was built for Formula 1- with its skyscrapers and waterways as backdrop, and a multitude of hotels within the area.

 

Once having checked in at the club lounge of comfortable Park Royal – as in its name situated along Beach Road – it was time to peruse the news and the Singapore Grand Prix events so far, sipping on a cappuccino.

 

The battle between the leader so far, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa could not have been tighter – one point separating the two.

 

The Mclaren championship leader had clocked the fastest lap of the day outpacing the competition during the first free practice day, with Massa only 0,080 seconds slower. But the Ferrari driver ended up grabbing his share of World Championship history on Saturday as the first man to take pole position in Singapore.

 

Two times champion Fernando Alonso, Renault, displayed a sober face in Sunday’s morning newspaper, lamenting how impossible he thought it would be for him to do anything, starting 15th.

 

Continue to: part 2 of the Inaugural Formula One Singtel Singapore Grand Prix

 

See also: Image Gallery for Formula One Singapore Grand Prix

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