Day 3 - Singapore (first day of F1 action)

The title of Usher's recent hit sums up the afternoon and evening of entertainment - OMG!

This was the scene at around 3:30...more on that soon.

This gives you an idea of the day view from my stand. Starting off the action on track was Formula BMW - nowhere near as fast as an F1 car but still makes a pretty good noise! They'd only just finished their first practice session when...

Don't worry, I did stay completely dry - I was underneath the grandstand while this happened.

It didn't take long for a waterfall to form on the stairs!

Out onto a soaked track went the Porsche Carrera Cup cars. Rear engined, rear wheel drive - fiendishly difficult to handle in wet conditions I'd imagine!

Would you believe it - this was the scene about an hour after the "waterfall" picture. Incredible...

And then the moment we'd all been waiting for...F1 first practice. Here's Mark Webber coming into my corner. A 90 minute session on a drying track was intriguing. Oh yeah and did I tell you that this was the first time they'd ever driven around the circuit in the wet? A session from the motocross trials riders was followed by Formula BMW qualifying, where two drivers were forced to park their cars right in front of us.The first was some kind of mechanical issue, but the second was clearer...

Look on the right rear side and you'll see the rear wing is lower on that side - it's because he hit the wall coming out of the previous corner!

F1 second practice was the drivers' first hit-out under the full night sky. Fernando Alonso also fell victim to what was becoming a bit of a minefield right in front of us, but his problem was unusual.
When he came up to us, he missed his braking point and drove straight on into the escape road.

But I don't think the track wasn't wide enough to do a "flick spin" - basically that just means they gas up the rear tyres and turn the car around deliberately. So he engaged reverse (not as easy as it sounds), got back to a position where he could re-join the track and then...he stalled. Sounds embarrassing for a twice world champion, but the anti-stall mechanism on his car didn't work properly.

This sounds stupid, but the driver cannot start the engine - F1 cars are not equipped with a starter because it's unnecessary weight. The mechanics do that with a gadget back in the pits.

Vettel and Webber in the Red Bulls were flying. Up to his incident, Alonso was the only one really challenging them. Don't be surprised if Mark ends up on the front row, the main question being which side? Now I didn't get any clear pictures of the cars under lights, because it was a tricky scene to shoot.

However, I did discover my camera has a video option...




Look out - I could be the next Cameraman Joe!