Singapore will make history this week by staging glamour-fuelled Formula One’s first-ever night race, with safety worries taking a back seat to anticipation of a landmark event.
The tiny but affluent city-state won the right to host the event for five years, with an option to extend to 2017, after agreeing to hold it under lights in a move designed to boost global television ratings.
Sunday’s showpiece will also be the first time F1 has raced around the streets of an Asian city, with the circuit hugging some of Singapore’s best known colonial-era landmarks like St Andrews Cathedral and The Padang.
With just four grands prix left this season, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton goes into the race with a slender one-point lead over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the driver standings, setting the scene for a bumper showdown.
Hamilton, whose lead could increase if he wins his appeal on Tuesday against a 25-second penalty imposed on him at the Belgium Grand Prix this month, is looking forward to the novelty factor.
”Singapore is a night-time circuit, which none of us have experienced before, but we’ll be OK,” said the Briton.
Concerns, though, remain among other drivers about racing under spotlights at the tail-end of the monsoon season, with torrential rain a possibility and potentially a dangerous hazard.
The race will start at 8pm local time with final qualifying at 10pm on Saturday, a scenario no Formula One driver has experienced before.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli said many drivers were apprehensive, particularly since they only take to the track on Friday.
”Singapore is a new challenge for everyone because it is the first time we will race there and the first time to race at night,” he said.
”We don’t know exactly how the track will be or how challenging the conditions could be, so it will be very interesting.”
Organisers say 1 500 lighting projectors — powered by 12 pairs of diesel generators — will illuminate the 5,067km-long Marina Bay track, each one four times brighter than those routinely used at football stadiums.
Leong Yue Kheong, director of F1 projects at the Singapore Tourism Board, insisted that everything had been done to ensure safety, including minimising glare from the lights, especially during rain.
”The way the light projectors are constructed is to make sure that they minimise glare,” he said.
”I don’t think we can totally eliminate or remove glare, especially when there is rain. When there is rain, all kinds of problems can be anticipated: the backwash, the water, the mist and so on.
”But I think what the lighting consultant has done is to minimise the glare that will affect the drivers.”
Singapore, which is working to market itself and the race as the ”Monaco of the East”, is banking on the spectacle attracting hordes of tourists and is anchoring the long weekend with more than 10 lifestyle events.
These include the Singapore River Festival and the Singapore Motor Show, as well as the Amber Lounge after-race party, which costs 1 000 Singapore dollars ($710) to get in, and a gala dinner at 4 000 Singapore dollars a head.
That said, it should be an exciting race. There are 25 turns, but unlike the more famous street circuit at Monaco — where overtaking is almost impossible — in Singapore there will be several opportunities.
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh said that for the teams it was all about adapting to a new environment.
”Singapore is a new event, a new circuit. It’s complex, there are 25 turns so the teams, engineers, drivers must become familiar with that,” he said.
”It is run at night so the crew needs to adapt to the shift patterns of being able to run and develop the car through the night and the drivers must become familiar with a new track when dark and under different conditions.” — Sapa-AFP