2009 F1 Singapore Grand Prix

After months of waiting, my F1 weekend zoomed past just like that. Literally.

Took half day on Friday to catch the practice sessions which started at 3pm. My seat was at the Marina Bay Grandstand but we could walk around most of the area, except the super atas zone. Pros and Cons; Could watch the cars more upclose when walking around but only bummer was no screen to watch. Could watch the screen from our seat but not so much of the live action. Unless you take the loud shrills as 'live action' into account. It was really really ear-piercing. Thought I could tahan it initially, but after a while cannot take it and purchased the survival kit which consisted of a poncho n a pair of ear plugs. $2 for charity, why not. But the ear plugs really sucks. In the end we bought another pair from the convenience store at $3. 一分钱一分货.


Practice session was nothing much. The most exciting part was probably the part where a Renault car crashed into the wall right infront of our grandstand. The crowd actually cheered! Gosh... haha! Then everyone swarmed to take pics of the dejected looking Romain Grosjean and his wreck. The same spot as fellow racer - Nelson Piquet's infamous crash. How freaky is that!

Qualifying day was quite alright. We skipped the Aston Martins and Porsche sessions coz they were nothing much, more interested in the race at night. Kindda exciting but nothing beats the actual race night. The crowd, atmosphere and weather were at their best. Past 2 nites were quite hazy and damn humid, but it was quite clear and windy on the race night. Spectators were spontaneous and high-spirited (and some too high from their Tigers), esp the ang mohs, which by the way made up at least 50% of the crowd I think. And for the first time, I was super glad that our weather agency had made superbly WRONG predictions, that there will be thunderstorms throughout all 3 nites. Contrary to what I'd thought earlier, I actually do not have much of a chance to: - watch the cars zoom past. watch the screen and wait. watch them zoom past again. And wait again. etc., coz they were really fast! Not much of time gaps at all. It was a close fight for the last few cars while there was no competition for Hamilton all the way.

Left a few rounds before the race ended, as the winners were more or less confirmed. But more importantly, I wanted to catch Backstreet Boys at the Padang! I liked them a lot during sec sch time and I tell you... I was like a complete sec sch fan screaming, singing and dancing away amongst the huge crowd. Everyone was so high! And it was really great to listen to their songs again, much less listen to them live.

Overall, it was a great experience and our country's night scene really looks beautiful. If I were to watch again next year, I'll probably just go for the Race night... coz "Nothing else comes close".