As the sun went down, the lights and the excitement went up. We had the driver's parade, the Singaporean national anthem and before you knew it the race was upon us. A passing mention to Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend, Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls for glamming things up quite nicely.
For me, this video was the moment that has made the whole trip worth every cent and more - lap 1 of the Singapore Grand Prix.
It was a pretty eventful race. Quite a few incidents happened close to me, such as the crashes of Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna. Because they crashed entering the tunnel underneath me, I didn't actually see it happen but you could hear something unusual. The pics below show the damage to both cars and the spot they crashed.
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| "Three wheels on your wagon, well there's your problem!" |
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| "Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's another damaged Hispania!" |
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| I have no idea why they felt the need to pose at the crash site... |
The race's biggest talking point was the tangle between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber at Turn 7 - see shot below (they'd already pulled out the ripple strip by the time I got there!)
Worked out nicely for Mark - he got to take out his closest championship rival without incurring a penalty.
And with a couple of laps to go, a flaming mess came past me...literally.
The Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen was already on fire when it approached my position - I could see the flames and smell the smoke. Heikki then proceeded, idiotically in my view, to continue on through the next six corners with his car on fire before finally parking it just after the finish line on the pit straight. That meant he passed about three or four better spots he could've parked it!
After all that and a great win by Alonso, the championship positions at the end of the race are almost the same as it started. Webber now leading by 11 points, but only 25 covering the top five drivers. And to think there's still four races to go - brilliant!
As I promised yesterday, some thoughts on the subjects of time, money, sex and power.
An F1 pit crew can change the car's tyres in under four seconds!
The teams stayed on European hours throughout the weekend to minimise the effect of jetlag - that meant dinner at around 3 or 4am! I heard Nico Rosberg was cranky because where he was staying at the Pan Pacific, the restaurant had closed...
Due to the full tanks at the start of the race, lap times were around seven seconds a lap slower than on almost empty tanks at the end of the race.
An F1 steering wheel is worth about $50,000.
All tickets were sold for race day - I can't get an exact figure, but in 2008 for example the crowd on race day was around 100,000 (40% of which were foreign tourists). Estimated economic impact of around $170 million.
The Singapore Government spends around $100 million to host the race.
A hooker tried to pick me up on Saturday night after the race. She wanted to come back to my hotel room (which was only about a block and a half away). I got rid of her by telling her my girlfriend was ready for some action - and no she's not bisexual.
An F1 car is undoubtedly sexy, even more so under lights. Cars like the McLaren with its chrome effect paintwork, and of course the Ferrari, look spectacular!
A current F1 engine produces about 750hp - but in the 1980's in qualifying settings, turbo engines produced around 1200!
Reportedly, the Prime Minister of Mauritius was here pressing the flesh - apparently in the hope of hosting a race. Dream on buddy I'd say! If France can't afford a race, then I don't see how an African nation could!
Well it's my final day here in Singapore - I jet out late tonight for Dubai. Going to head to Funan Digital Life before I go, apparently it's Asia's biggest shopping mall for technology so it should be a cracker. Hoping to pick up a new laptop battery for a song..."why do birds suddenly appear...every time you are near...". Maybe not that sort of song!
The time difference is 6 hours from Sydney over there in Dubai, so you'll probably get my posts very early in the morning. Temperatures are forecast at around 37 degrees and sunny - maybe just maybe a dust storm thrown into the mix. It couldn't be more different than the weather here!
I must say I think the locals here like Aussies. It's not a surprise considering how opposite the two countries are! You have the wide brown land of Australia and tightly packed Singapore. Australia has an average of 2.9 people per square kilometre, Singapore has 7022 per square kilometre!
And it's our personality that they like too. We're very friendly, happy people generally - so much so we sometimes get called the "no worries" country.
I must say the locals seemed to have a fondness for me - as you can imagine, I do stand out over here. Especially when I was wearing my wide-brimmed hat! You'd think more people would wear them over here, because they help keep the sun and rain off your head but also come in handy as a fan! I had one taxi driver tell me I was like the Dalai Lama - I gather it was my jolly nature that drew that remark!
As their motto says: Majulah Singapura (onward Singapore). And they certainly know how to do that.
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