Friday, May 11, 2007

Singapore gets its F1 Grand Prix!

Good news for F1 fans in Singapore. Singapore will host the world's first F1 Grand Prix night race next year around the Marina Bay district. From BBC:
"Singapore is going to be the leader with the street race at night - we're excited about the idea," said F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

But Singapore's government says safety concerns will have to be resolved.

"Safety is of paramount concern to all of us," said Singapore's Trade and Industry minister S. Iswaran.

"Therefore, we will proceed with a night race only if the safety and operational requirements of all parties are fully met - if not, we will revert to a day race.

"(But) a night race will be unique and allow the Singapore event to reach out to television audiences in Asia, Europe and the US."

Singapore will stage the race for five years, with Ecclestone keeping the option to extend the deal for a further five years until 2017.
I have always preferred watching F1 on TV because it's far more comfortable and you can get a better view of the entire race but I think watching the race at night in Singapore will be a unique experience for all fans. It's held at night - it won't be as hot as it is in the day. Besides, I'm sure all the hotels around the Marina Bay area are pretty happy with this announcement. Overall, a good news for all of Singapore. Now, if only we have a F1 driver.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally!!! Don't have to go to Sepang and sweat all day to watch F1.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Singapore. It will be interesting indeed to see how the race will turn out at night.

Anonymous said...

next year!

Anonymous said...

>But Singapore's government says safety concerns will have to be resolved.

So what's the likelyhood that the govt will say NO to the night race?

I think the night race will differentiate us from the Malaysian F1 and the rest.

Let's hope we get all the safety issues settled.

Anonymous said...

We can watch the race from the hotels!

Anonymous said...

wldnt this be so much trouble for the drivers? they will have to train how to race at night.

Anonymous said...

Yayy!

Anonymous said...

Think about all the inconveniences that was raised by World Bank event - thats gonna happen all over again, over a stretch of two weeks maybe?

out of curiosity - was there a survey or referendum to check with the all the businesses and banks etc in the CBD area whether they want to have an F1 race in their neighbourhood in the first place?

there'll be many local retail businesses that will be affected when human traffic is all controlled over a week or so. i wonder if they're compensated.

Road closure for testing and the actual races, when they build the stands. Think about all the lighting thats needed to be put up. F1 cars no headlights, so lighting needs to be as good as daylight.

Think about the high level of security all round, and cordoning off for pedestrians, the MRT stations affected.

Think about all the offices and businesses affected by the noise pollution. When those races are going, i can bet u - no one's gonna sit in their offices and try to work, would they? esp those on the night shift for the New York market?

And with the blast of noise, let's hope all those glass windows in CBD can take the pressure and not break.

With all these, they might as well announce public holidays for the week that so many things are disrupted.

we aren't exactly Monaco or Macau - party cities where the road closures dont impact so many people. ours will be smack in the middle of the BUSINESS DISTRICT.

There's a reason that proper F1/racing tracks all over the world are FAR AWAY from town areas - to least affect people in general.

but i'm sure the govt has thought about all these - and the pros overwhelm the cons, i'm sure. this must have been argued and debated over parliament for weeks.

Aygee

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