Ferrari at the Singapore GP

Singapore circuit


Before the event, purists and cynics in the sport of Formula 1 had their doubts about the Singapore Grand Prix, which would celebrate the eight hundredth Formula 1 race to count towards the World Championship by being run at night under floodlights.

In the end, the 2008 inaugural race was a huge success, rewarded with the prize for the best run grand prix of the year. Singapore had staged races on a street circuit back in the Sixties and even held an event called the Malaysian Grand Prix, but nothing on the scale of this new venture with the track running around the Marina Bay area. Visually, the spectacle was stunning and the lighting, backed up with several fail-safe systems, drew praise from the drivers, who said it was so good, they forgot it was night time and that it was even better than racing in natural sunlight.

The track layout was relatively fast and interesting for a street circuit, although there were some teething troubles, which will be addressed prior to this year's race: modifications to the first three corners to improve overtaking chances and changes to Turn 10, where the kerbs caused considerable damage. If there were concerns about racing under artificial light, prior to the event there was also a question mark over how drivers and team personnel would cope with the double difficulty of adapting to the jet-lag and dealing with a working day that would run from early afternoon to the early hours of the morning. In the end, these fears were unfounded, with the majority of people adapting by sticking to European time, by going to bed around four in the morning and getting up at midday.

Hotels had even allocated 'quiet' floors, with staff under instruction not to disturb guests to make up rooms and so forth. When the cars ran on track, the colours and liveries looked much brighter than usual, reminiscent of computer racing games and the backdrop, including a Big Wheel – the largest in Asia - and the road traffic high in the sky on Singapore’s flyover system, made for a visual feast.

While the race itself was exciting, it was not a good one for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, who left Singapore without any points. The arrival of the Safety Car after Nelson Piquet had a big crash turned the event into a lottery, favouring those who had refuelled just prior to the incident and then the men from Maranello made a mistake when both its drivers came in together for a double-stop. Felipe was first in, but was released from the stop while the fuel line was still attached the car. He stopped at the end of pit lane while mechanics rushed to remove it. Meanwhile, Kimi had to wait for this incident to be dealt with before he was refuelled. On top of that, the Brazilian was given a drive-through penalty for a 'dangerous release,' and Kimi crashed out in the closing stages. A race to forget.