F1 Singapore 26-27 Sept 2009

Jensen Button's Brawn car ; taken using the Canon EOS 500

The world's most watched human circus came to Singapore last weekend,25th - 27th September. The F1 is the brainchild of Bernie Eccelstone and the various teams from mainly European car makers, spend hundreds of millions of EUROs to participate in it. Red Bull, Braun (formerly Honda), Philips,Force India are the non car manufacturing teams while the traditional top names are Maclaren Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Renault (they are going to be banned for 2 years for Crashgate last year) and Toyota are the more established car marques. The recent financial crisis led to Honda pulling out of the F1 this year and some famous names in the banking world like AIG and RBS are also pulling out for various reasons.

AIG pulled out of Renault because of the Crashgate incident last year when Nelson Piquet Jr., purposely crashed under no pressure in Singapore, enabling his team-mate Fernando Alonso to win the GP. After 1 year of investigation, they found that Nelson was acting under instructions from the team boss, Flavio Briatore and Manager Pat Symonds. Both were subsequentlly barred,Flavio for life in the sport and Symonds for 2 years. RBS pulled out mainly due to the Financial Crisis which engulfed most Western banks with toxic assets.

The F1 is typically the pinnacle in car performance and the drivers have to be subjected to many Gs (acceleration due to gravity) - similar to what fighter pilots experience - in their quest to finish on the podium or top 3. I am not a fan, but I am slowly developing an interest what with the many scandals, in and out of the circuit,with their twists and turns, crashes and clashes of egos, make the most thrilling bestseller novel seem like a boring textbook.


Friends from Germany, Meike and Florian came specially for the races

My friends from Germany, Meike Pucher and her boyfriend, Florian flew all the way to Asia to watch the F1 and after the race, managed to watch a live performance by the Backstreet Boys. The F1 Singapore management, I must add, did a tremendous job in arranging ample seating and viewing for the 80,000 foriegn fans and probably 200,000 local fans. The international acts came from top headliners like Black Eyed Peas, No Doubt, Jacky Cheung, Pussycat Dolls, Damage, Backstreet Boys, among many others.


Lewis Hamilton's Maclaren Mercedes racing to Pole Position

To get a taste of the sound, imagine a fighter jet flying about 100 feet about you.It is a high pithced whining sound which, if without earplugs, can cause serious auditory damage to your hearing. That is how loud the sound is ! I booked 4 tickets at the Singapore Cricket Club on Saturday 26th Sept. and they had a very nice corner where the cars all sped past, and it was great for photo taking. The band at the Bar was in full flight when we got there, and belting out rock and roll numbers loud enough to drown out the cars. As a new member of the Cricket Club, I was quite taken by the fact that the expatriates really know how to enjoy the races and have a jolly time with alcohol acting as a barrier breaking salve for the stressed executives and expatriates working here. By the 3rd glass of beer, most of us at the bar were watching the proceedings from the large screen with the close -ups shots at every turn, driver's helmet and of course the crashes.


Red Bull in Full Flight

So, as the only night race for the moment, Singapore is attracting the world's sports fans for the next 2 years. We will be hosting the inaugaral Youth Olympics in 2010, so we might see the next Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt in Singapore soon. I look forward to that opportunity.