Sleepless in Singapore
SINGAPORE — What is it about Formula One that makes it such a big deal? The drive to win? The speed? The ultimate gadgetry of luxury sports cars and exotic locales, from Europe to East Asia? The glamour of the exclusive Amber Lounge which follows the Formula One Grand Prix in each city host with an after-race party for drivers, team officials, global celebrities and VIPs (recently held at Conrad Contenial here in Singapore)? Is it the human drama of rivalry and grand dreams of the world’s top racing athletes?
Over 500 million people in 200 countries worldwide watched live on television, the first-ever Formula One night race held in the glittering city-state of Singapore. Asia’s first Fairmont Hotel, where this writer stayed in Raffles City complex, is located right beside the F1 route and every day I just had to marvel at the actual F1 racecar displayed in the hotel lobby.
Our neighbor Singapore is so smart in promoting its glitzy tourism image through this popular sports event. Over the next five years, with a possible extension, Singapore will be staging F1 night races and allow Asians primetime TV viewership, with Saturday afternoon showings in America or Europe, and breakfast showings in Brazil and South America.
Another unique feature of the Singapore F1 is that it was Asia’s first street race, since Singapore has limited land to build a separate racetrack similar to that in Shanghai, China. The street race of Singapore reminds one of the F1 and Grand Prix races in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
After this Singapore Grand Prix, only a total of three remaining F1 races will be held — the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji on Oct. 12, the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Oct. 19, and the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo on Nov. 2.
When the F1 Singapore event was first announced, teams immediately raised all-important concerns about lighting, since Formula racecars do not have headlights. What about the potentially distracting glare off the roads if tropical Singapore experiences rain showers? BMW team’s Nick Heidfeld told the international media: “Rain combined with the artificial light is the great unknown for me with this race.”
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Italian consultant firm Valerio Maioli S.P.A. held a public bidding that was won by the world’s leading lighting conglomerate, Philips of the Netherlands, which also lighted up a majority of the venues for the phenomenal Beijing Olympics, 86 percent of the lighting for all venues ay the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, 67 percent of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and 55 percent of the world’s major soccer stadiums and other sports mega-events. Valerio Maioli said Philips’ lighting system was custom-made for the F1 Singapore night race, providing a 16-percent energy savings, yet four times brighter than any stadium.
Maioli put the proposed Philips lighting installation through a series of tests across Europe, involving F1 professionals such as Renault test driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. and it was only approved after complying with rigorous safety requirements and driving conditions at speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour.
Paul Peeters, Philips ASEAN CEO, told the Philippine STAR: “Many dream of being a racing car driver and we are pleased to be involved in developing innovative lighting solutions that enhance people’s enjoyment of this thrilling sport. Philips supplied 1,500 lighting projectors to illuminate the 5.067-kilometer track with light that is four times brighter than a football stadium at night.”
When this writer quizzed Peeters about the F1 racers’ concern due to possible tropical rains during the race, the engineering-educated Philips executive replied: “This lighting system not only achieves near-daylight conditions at the night race, it’s also safe even in wet weather conditions because the system avoids glare by projecting the light beams at different angles instead of vertically. Philips will also supply over 1,000 flat-screen TVs, providing a high definition (HD) viewing experience to F1 spectators across the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.”
How did the mostly non-Asian formula racers prepare themselves physiologically and psychologically for the first-ever night street race in F1 history?
“In Singapore the action will also be taking place at night, in an Asian metropolis and against an amazing backdrop,” BMW team principal Mario Thiessen told the media. “This will give the event even more appeal and excitement.”
Thiessen added: “You only need to think of the special atmosphere you get at a football match under floodlights — the surroundings melt into the background, the action itself takes center stage.”
Red Bull team’s David Coulthard joked: “I am staying up late at night, I am going out to nightclubs, and I’m eating a lot of carrots because they apparently help you to see better in the dark.”
Honda team’s Rubens Barrichello also said he will pursue “a lively nightlife to get used to the schedule.”
At 23, the world’s youngest driver to lead the F1 World Championship, Lewis Hamilton of the McLaren team, commented on the unprecedented condition of night-time racing: “It doesn’t seem to be a problem in other sports and there have been huge preparations for this.”
World’s F1 defending champion Kimi Raikkonen of the Ferrari team added: “I enjoy evenings and nighttime more anyhow. I like to sleep until noon every day, so for me this seems the perfect venue. I am more awake in the evenings than in the mornings.”
Obviously, the F1 race was held with no rain and, despite a few track mishaps, the night-race conditions were a thrill for racers and fans alike.
The success of the world’s first F1 night race in Singapore is not only a source of pride for all of us Asians and lovers of sports excellence; it not only showed the world that we Asians can host world-class athletic and party extravaganzas with dazzling efficiency and fun; it will surely popularize this ultimate sporting event throughout our region and beyond its traditional strongholds of Europe, North America and Japan.
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