2017 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix – The first ever wet F1 race at night

So last weekend was a historic race huh? For the first time in the long Formula One history, we had a wet race at night! So that was a pretty cool experience to be in the first one ever. Oh and the Ferraris before retiring on Lap 1 for the first time ever too which really made my weekend haha.

 

So after my bad experience of sitting in a grandstand in Singapore 2 years ago and saying I probably won’t ever get another grandstand sit here again….yup I bought one. I couldn’t help it and I just had to give it a try so this time I went for the Esplanade Bayfront grandstand, I thought it might be a good spot to check out. Turned out to be a really good spot so I’m glad I did get seats there.

 

 

For once, I didn’t really do much in the lead up to the racing weekend. It didn’t help not hearing about any driver’s public events or appearances anywhere! They must have been all private events this year so that really sucked. You want to bring the sport closer to the fans but you keep blocking them off with little events and the only way to go to their autograph session is by winning tickets for it. Not cool. They really need to look at the way Australia does it.

 

I was really looking forward to watching the cars in action this year. Unlike some others, I actually do like how the cars look this year. And there were some good looking cars this year. Toro Rosso, Force India, McLaren, Sauber and Renault all have great liveries on their cars for the 2017 season. Quite rare to have that many good ones on the same grid.

 

So for Friday I started the day out at Turns 11/12. Since I was stuck in zone 4 for this year, that was the first place I had in mind to check out. After all, there aren’t many good spots in zone 4 so I might as well spend most of my time at the better spots. At any point you could be seeing the cars from the side view, the back view or the front view around that Turns 11-12 area. Good spot for taking pictures of the cars too. So much so I spent the entire FP1 at the Turns 10-12 area.

 

 

If you’re ever at the Singapore Grand Prix and all you’ve got is a zone 4 ticket, the really good spots are at Turn 8, 11/12 and 14. I even tried to see the action at the turn 13 hairpin but you had to stand on a railing just to see the cars. The bit before Turn 14 is also another good spot, that’s the place where you’ll hear the cars at their “loudest” and also the easiest place to see sparks flying off these cars which is always a nice visual. Too bad I can never get a good picture for it. It’s usually the one spot where I’ll be taking videos instead of pictures. You can actually hear the differences from each power units in action.

 

There is an interesting spot on top of the Esplande building overlooking Turn 15, you can see the cars from the view of the 4th floor and since the building is inside the circuit, anyone with a ticket can watch it from there. It’s also one of the few spots around the track where you can get a picture of these cars without those catch fences being in the way but only for one specific spot. I liked it so much I almost spent all of FP3 at that spot. I probably should have as I didn’t get one good picture of the cars from Turn 15 when I decided to switch with 20 minutes to go.

 

 

The atmosphere was amazing with fans from everywhere coming down to Singapore. There were people from Netherlands (lots of Dutch fans here), Denmark, Mexico, Canada and even good ol’ USA but the main ones are the Brits and the Aussies. I ended up sitting around some of them during the race and of course they had a friendly banter with one another with Hamilton and Ricciardo fighting for the win.
There’s no clear cut favourites on who the fans all support so it’s nice to see all different supporters, as it tends to be the case around here. You’ll always hear a cheer for either the Ferrari guys, Mercedes guys, Red Bull guys or the McLaren guys (McLaren fan here). Oh if you were wondering, there was a loud cheer when the two Ferraris crashed into each other during the race. Guess my area was the anti-Ferrari zone.

 

The same can be said during qualifying. I went back to Turn 11 because there was a super screen there and I wanted to see what times everyone was doing. The crowd around me for qualifying were pro-Verstappen. I was a bit surprised to see a lot of Dutch fans here in Singapore, they really do travel around to support their guys. Good on them. I was sure a Red Bull car would be on pole position with how quick they were in all three practice session but of course Sebastian Vettel had to ruin that and take pole away. Laugh it up Ferrari fans, guess who got the last laugh?

 

 

For once I didn’t really bother with the music concerts. I mean look who was there. One Republic? Don’t know them. Chainsmokers? Never heard of them. Calvin Harris? Who the heck is he? I honestly have not heard of him until the friday of the racing weekend. Turns out his is dance music. Really, you’re going to have that shit at an F1 circuit? Where’s our rock & roll music? I mean think about it, F1 is an adrenaline pumping sport, rock and roll gives you that adrenaline rush too! I mean it’s perfect for an F1 race and it’s my kind of music. So until we get someone good, I won’t bother with these concerts. Then again, I’m here at an F1 circuit for the racing itself. I guess you can see why the Australian Grand Prix is still my favourite race to visit, it’s all racing there.

 

So Sunday was fun in some ways. Looking up in the sky, I knew this could be the day we actually do get hit by the rain during the racing weekend. For some weird reason, the only time it has rained was two Fridays and it was well before any of the F1 practice sessions started. The weather really didn’t help that day. It was raining, then it stopped, then it rained again, then it stopped again, it went on and on. Especially around 10 minutes before the race started, the rain came down again. It wasn’t fun hiding under the grandstand to avoid the rain and still get hit by it! Oh and a piece of advice here, always bring a poncho! I forgot to bring mine and I had to buy one (just for $2) because they didn’t allow umbrellas to be used in the grandstands. I should have known better from my experiences in Suzuka and Melbourne.

 

 

So the rain actually rejuvenated the fans around my area, we were all psyched and ready to see the start of the race. We all kinda knew we were about to witness history, the first ever wet race at night in F1. And these guys have never raced around the track in the wet session too so it was a step into the unknown for everyone involved.

 

And then the start happened. So if you didn’t see, how did you not? Vettel started on pole, Verstappen 2nd and Raikkonen 3rd. Kimi gets a better start then the front two, Seb gets a slower start, tries to cut off Max and this caused Kimi to hit Max and then his own team-mate! The Ferrari guys took each other out! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I’ve never had a good laught at a race like that. People who know me knows how much I hate Ferrari so this felt like my birthday, the greatest gift of them all seeing those two cars out in the first lap!

 

It was weird seeing the cars race while shivering in my poncho. This was actually my first wet race! I’ve seen wet practice or qualifying sessions in Melbourne, Suzuka and Sepang but never the race itself. Of course I had a tall bloke sitting in front of me in a grandstand as per usual but this time he didn’t really block my view that much when trying to take a picture of the F1 cars in actions.

 

 

In the end it was Lewis Hamilton picking up an unlikely win in Singapore. I wasn’t expecting to see a Mercedes car on the podium this weekend since Singapore is their weakest track so to see both of them on the podium was something else. Good ol’ Daniel Ricciardo was on the podium for the fourth year in a row but still not the win. One day Dan will get it and I hope I’ll be near the podium to see it happen. Special shout out to Carlos Sainz, Jolyon Palmer and Stoffel Vandoorne, all 3 of them got their best career finishes in that race with 4th, 6th and 7th respectively.

 

 

So it was another good weekend at the Marina Bay street circuit. I already know which tickets I’m aiming to get for next year’s race. Yes, there will be a next year after the news broke that Singapore has re-signed the race for another 4 more years among all the other breaking news to come out last weekend (McLaren switching to Renault power, Toro Rosso switching to Honda power and Carlos Sainz moving to Renault as part of the whole deal). Always good to have my fix of racing in for the year and hey, it won’t be the last, I’ll be at Sepang for the final Malaysian Grand Prix. I hope it doesn’t rain there too.

 

2015 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix – Not a fan of Grandstand Seats

Wednesday

Usually the racing weekend starts on Friday and on some occasions, Thursday for this one, my racing fix started on Wednesday when I heard that Max Verstappen and Jenson Button would both be making appearances, both competing in friendly simulator races with some lucky fans. Unfortunately, the JB one was a private event. I did try my luck by being at the Conrad Hotel, and I saw JB twice walking around the 2^nd floor but he never did show up on the first floor so I left for Verstappen’s event in Kallang.

The kid actually showed up driving a Twizy into the Kallang Wave mall! That was pretty funny, especially since he’s not even of legal driving age here in Singapore. He helped to launch a new Renault Clio and finished 3^rd in that race and then there was a meet and greet session with him, so that was nice of them to make it happen. I did get to meet him, get his autograph and get a picture with him. Quiet guy but sure was friendly. He’ll be a mega star in the years to come, just wait and see.

Thursday

I was lucky enough to win not one but two pair of passes to the pit-lane experience thing. One was though my tickets, the other from Singapore GP’s website running a separate contest. During that day I also got a gift bag from Singapore Airlines for posting stuff about the grand prix using their hastag so that was nice of them.

But before the pit-lane walk, Daniel Ricciardo was showing up at Paragon and me being a big fan of the guy, I had to be there. Big thanks to my friend Claire for letting me know about it. I got to ask Daniel a question, which was about UFC of all things, and a question he said “wow that’s a good one, never heard that one before”. I asked him if he was allowed one fight, who would it be? His answer? Initially it was whoever he disliked the most before deciding on Conor McGregor just for the laughs. I’d really like to see those two just laugh at each other though, both funny guys in their own sports. I got a Red Bull 2015 team shirt free for that, and it usually cost $120! I got my picture with Daniel too so finally, it happened.

Oh by the way, Singapore security guards are the worst. I was being pushed around by some guy behind me for some reason and instead of helping me out, this stupid bastard of a security punched me in the stomach not once but twice! What was that for? I wasn’t the one doing the pushing you idiot. First of all, those idiotic people who were pushing, don’t blame me for being at the front of the line, how about showing up early to get your picture and not push people around you useless fuck. And that security guard, the next time I see your stupid bald head, I’ll fucking punch you in the stomach for no reason. Let’s see how you like it, you no good piece of shit. Not the first time I’ve see the Singapore security guards at these big events being the worst bunch of idiots I’ve ever seen. Can we get proper guards here?

The pit-lane walk was cool as always. We actually got to see the likes of Grosjean, Maldonado, Stevens, Rossi, Ericsson and Nasr all walking out on track. I might have been the only one who actually recognised Alex Rossi so I called him out, me being a fan of his and all that, and he waved back. I do feel a bit bad because he was trying to study the track since it was his debut F1 race after all, sorry about that Alex!

It wasn’t my first time in the pit-lane walk but watching these guys practice their pit-stop just never gets old. The sound of the drills and the timing of these guys to get the tyres out and in, it’s just amazing that we get to see them do it for a while. And yes, I got to tape some of it during the walk. The cars looked great up close as the always do and it was cool to see a few different stuff like the new Sauber nose, Lotus’ new sponsors and of course, Rossi’s Manor with the 53 car in tribute to Herbie.

Friday

The first day of action at the Marina Bay and I decided to have some fun being the autograph hunter along with my friend who made his way from Melbourne to be here for the first time. I helped him get a picture with Ricciardo and he helped me get a picture with….Ted Kravitz haha! To be fair, most of the guys, I saw, I already have a picture with them.

I do wonder though, is it a Ferrari thing to refuse autographs or photographs from fans? Not only did Vettel, Raikkonen and former driver Alonso did that, even their new boss Maurizio Arrivabene stopped signing stuff after 2 people asked him. Geez, not so friendly are they? Yet so many people love them, I just don’t get it. At least you can count on guys like Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Rosberg and Grosjean of those who are more well known to give you a photo or an autograph. The only guys I didn’t see were Hamilton, Button and Massa, the same three I didn’t see at all last year the two times I was waiting at the entrance. Once again, I might have been the only person to ask Alex Rossi for an autograph. He’ll be more recognized sooner rather than later.

I missed the first three support series practices so it was straight to the first F1 practice and I went to a part of the circuit I’ve not been to before, Turn 3. Turns out it was a brilliant place to watch these cars and get some pictures. You get to see the cars either entering Turn 1, then 2 and around 3 and continue off or out of the pits and into Turn 2. I liked that area so much I spent the entire free practice 1 session just at that Turn 3 area.

Next up was the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia qualifying session and I watched that from my seat at the Pit Grandstand for that day. I bought the three-day combination to see how the grandstand seats were like for once and already I didn’t like it. The view was ok but trying to get pictures of these cars, that wasn’t ok. After that I went to see Singaporean pop group The Sam Willows at the Village Stage. I’ve heard a lot about them and having seen and heard them in action, those guys and gals are really good. Made a fan out of me that day.

Back to the F1 action and I had always planned to watch the final 30 minutes at the Pit Grandstand. That turned into the final 10 minutes because I found a few better places elsewhere on parts of the track I’ve been to before such as Turns 21, which is always a good spot for photos, Turns 22 and 23, with a number of different viewing angles for all of them, and most of them all good. The view from the pit grandstand wasn’t that great if I’m honest. At least in Sepang, you could see the teams working on the cars. You can’t see anything here. The only reason to get a seat there would be for Sunday for the grid, the race start and the podium, that’s it. Apart from that, I wouldn’t watch the race from there. I mean, I’ve already been through that in Albert Park last year but the atmosphere more than made up for my poor view there.

Saturday

My ticket for the day was the Padang Grandstand so I was limited to just Zone 4. For the first action of the day, I saw the PCCA race 1 from my seat. This seat was a bit better than the Pit Grandstand and the Bay Grandstand (which I got for Sunday) so if I had to take a grandstand seat, I’d rather get it here and for one reason, for which I’ll mention later. The PCCA race was good as it usually was but the result was a bit frustrating for me. Oh well, shit happens for the guys I was cheering on.

For free practice 3, I decided to see what Turn 11/12 was like. My Aussie friend told me he had a good view from there from FP2 so why not check it out for myself and turns out he was right, it was a pretty good spot. The viewing platform had switch to the other side of the turn due to the changes made and to me, it didn’t just make the racing better, it made the viewing of the racing even better. Especially the view from Turn 12, you got to see the cars head on, turn into Turn 11, some of them even sliding out of that corner, drive straight at your view and then head to Turn 12 and the left side of Anderson Bridge, another change for this season. I spent 30 minutes watching from Turn 12 and the rest at Turn 11 to see how it was like from that angle. I might have found a new favourite spot at that Turn 12 viewing area for photos.

There was a 2 hour break between sessions and nothing was happening so I decided to look around the F1 village, see what’s on show, especially the Singapore Airlines booth and just see what’s on offer. I went back to Padang Stage for the qualifying session and the best part about watching the action there, especially from where I was at, you could see the sparks coming out of the cars! I always liked it as it looks like pictures and videos I’ve seen from the older eras of F1. The cars look great already under the lights, the sparks just add to the spectacle for me.

It was probably the best qualifying session of the year, since none of the Mercedes were up for the challenge to get pole position. It was pretty nice to see Ferrari and Red Bull fight it out for the top spot for once. I was bit bummed that Daniel just missed getting the pole but oh well, still a front-row spot for him. Sebastian Vettel was his usual self in Singapore, just kicking ass. After that was the Maroon 5 concert. I’ve seen them once so I didn’t stick around for that much this time. Way too many people there, took me 10 minutes just to get out of there.

Sunday

Race-day Sunday for the most part of the day, I was at my seat at the Bay Grandstand and I didn’t like the view one bit there. I thought I’d get to see more of the car going under by picking my seat at the Dark Green section, turns out it was still not enough. I couldn’t see much of the PCCA cars, the TCR Series cars or the F1 cars through those corners so that’s my mistake for picking that spot. I even walked to Turn 7 thinking, maybe I’ll just watch the race from there but as I was carrying two bags, not the option for that day. I will probably watch the race from Turn 7 next year, the view there is pretty good especially since that’s the main overtaking spot on the circuit.

I did at least get to see some off track action in both TCR and PCCA races, guys went off at Turn 18 which is always a tricky spot on track, I’ve been caught out there myself a few times on my games. I saw the F1 driver parade at Turn 7 and it was really disappointing to see them on the European style parade track mover altogether and not in separate historic cars, I always preferred that. The race was alright. It got better after the first safety car period. I’m still trying to figure out why the guy walked on track to cause the second safety car. I did get to see that crazy good overtaking move by Verstappen on Maldonado at Turn 18 happen right in front of me.

Sebastian Vettel dominated the race as usual but hey, Daniel Ricciardo finished 2^nd so I’m good with that. I didn’t stick around for the Bon Jovi gig. First of all, I’m here because it’s the Singapore Grand Prix so yeah, here for the racing and secondly I had a flight to catch. It was another good racing weekend in Singapore around the streets of Marina Bay. One thing this Singapore GP weekend did teach me…I’ll never get a grandstand seat here again. It’s not worth the price. I’ll stick to my brilliant walkabout tickets. I enjoyed my weekend…apart from sitting at those grandstands.

Now I need to head back to sleep. I’ve got a long day ahead of me. Oh yeah, I’m in Nagoya, Japan as we speak. Not too far away from a certain Suzuka Circuit. I wonder what’s going on there this weekend…

Singapore Airlines Light Up The Night Carnival – My story

It’s less than a month away but yes, the 2015 F1 Singapore Grand Prix is coming soon and me being a racing fanatic, I cannot wait for that weekend in late September. And thanks to Singapore Airlines, the title sponsors for the Singapore Grand Prix, we got a bit of a taste of the racing fever. Well not me since I always have it but for everyone else to get themselves ready and get into the racing festival mood.

This event was done in a way to promote the upcoming race but also it was a great way to get everyone into the racing spirit. There was a lot of stuff to see and do these past two days (22nd and 23rd August 2015). Of course I had to check it out! Me personally, it looks to me that Singapore Airlines has done a lot to get hte fans involved since taking over the sponsor title from Singtel and I couldn’t be any happier that they’re the ones doing this. They are probably one of, if not the, most well known Singaporean brands around anyways!

Day 1 – Saturday

The first thing I tried to do was get in on the action with the go-karts but then I remembered I was wearing my slippers and not a shoe. To drive these go-karts, your feet had to be fully covered. Shows you how little go-karting I’ve done to forget that bit of information I probably should have known. So what’s the next best thing? Try out the racing simulator then.

It’s not my first time trying a racing simulator for F1 2015 game this month. Funan mall has two simulators for anyone to try going on, one of which is the same as this one at the F1 Pit Building, the other was even more expensive but obviously that meant it was better. Still, the Logitech G29 Driving Force is pretty good itself and I just found out it’s about $600. I might need to start saving then. We only had one lap around the Marina Bay Street Circuit on the simulator and it had to be done in 3 minutes. I did at least get to finish my lap, 1m51s was the time. Not the best but it was my first and only go with that simulator so it’s not so bad I guess.

There’s also an area to try your hand at being a pit member and changing an F1 tyre. For whatever reason, I didn’t try that one out on both days, just happened to skip my mind. There was also a paper plane challenge but I can never make a good one so that’s not for me. There was also an SIA louge area of sorts next to the racing simulator and on display was a model of the Airbus A380 and also seats from that plane, Economy Class, Business Class and First Class. I never got to sit on the first class seat, I mean everyone wants to try it right? I don’t have the money to fly around in first class seat myself.

There were a number of supercars on show and there was one that caught my eye and it was the first one I saw. I have seen pictures of that particular car before but never live in living colour. And it was right there in front of me making it’s way back to the garage to be on display for all to see. It’s the Koenigsegg Agera 5. It’s not just a supercar, it’s a hypercar! And guess how much it costs?

$5.3 million smackers! Yes, 5.3 million dollars. I can only dream of what 5.3 million dollars is like. I could do a lot with that kind of money and I wouldn’t even consider buying that car even if I had the money. I would if I had 10 million though. It was also the only one of it’s kind in Singapore. To the lady who owns it….can you let me have a test drive sometime in the future? 😛

There was also a whole host of supercars ranging from Ferraris, McLarens, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Audis and Maseratis. It was probably the most expensive parking lot Singapore had ever seen, and the best looking one for sure as well! And yes, I had more McLaren pictures than I do for Ferrari, I just couldn’t help myself! I did snap one pretty cool picture of a number of cars at the front of the pack. It might be one of my best pictures I’ve ever taken:

Five different manufactures represented at the front too. McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Maserati from left to right. The cars were in a formation to spell out “SIA”, the front pack making up the “S” formation. The only people who probably had a view of the SIA formation are the one who were on the Singapore Flyer at the time or the tall buildings around the area.

There was also a few stunt cars not just on display but putting a really good stunt show, from close calls of a J parking to synchronized donuts and also the best trick I’ve seen, the car going around while the drivers were out of it! No-one was driving that damn car! I’ve not seen that one done before so kudos to those guys for that. A few TCR cars were on display as well as they’ll be making their debut at the Singapore Grand Prix this year. I’ve already seen two great races from them in Sepand (the first two races ever in this new TCR series) and I hope their races will be great in Singapore too.

The second floor of the F1 pit building was open with more activies as well. I had never been on the second floor so that was nice to see what the paddock club suites looked like….well not quite as it was empty for now but still, the view from there was pretty good. No wonder people pay good money for those tickets, I’d love to watch the action from there too. Here’s what the view is like:

The main reason for me going to the 2nd floor was to see the wax figures of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, which was borrowed from the Madam Tussad museum in Sentosa. I’ve always wanted to go to one of those museums just to see what it’s like. Also on display next to them was the F1 2014 Singapore Grand Prix winner’s trophy. Of course I had to get a picture of that. And a picture with the SIA girls. Combine them both and it’s a better pic. So good, I took another one the next day, this time with two SIA girls. Let’s be honest, they are the prettiest air stewardess of them all. No other airlines can match them…not that I’ve seen one yet.

Day 2 – Sunday

I had planned to go just on the Saturday but I was back on Sunday for one main reason, have a go at driving the go-karts from the KF1 guys. They’ve got a brilliant new kart circuit in Kranji that was designed by Herman Tilke. Yes, that same guy who designed the Sepang, Shanghai, Istanbul circuits to name a few. I’ll pay them a visit one of these days. Luckily for me I was one of the first to show up so I didn’t have to wait 40 minutes like most people did the day before.

You had to pay $5 to have a 10 minute session on track and since it was for charity, I’m all good with that. It took me a while to know what I could do and not do with the car and just as I thought I’d figured out the track, the session was finished just like that. Only four laps for me. Only did one overtake too. I ended that session 4th quickest, 2.6 seconds off the pace with my best time of 57.930s. I was just one tenths away from being 3rd quickest. I wasn’t that statisfied with my lap….so I went back in line for another go!

This time I did have to wait for a bit to run on track. Helmets on back to the track for me. This time I didn’t wait to get some action, I was overtaking guys right from the off. I was full throttle all the way apart from the final corner, which I only figured out that you didn’t really need to use the brakes there as well on my final lap. This time I did get held up from a few slower drivers which probably cost me a chance to get a really good lap. I even accidentally spun one guy around. He was holding me up but I didn’t mean to hit him. Honest mistake my friend!

I ended that session 3rd quickest, this time I was only 0.7s away from the top spot. I improved my time by 3 seconds, my fastest time was 54.887s. It was fun racing those go-kart. I mean, it’s always fun racing go-karts. I wish I could do it more often. It was pretty cool to race on an actual F1 circuit, albeit just on the front straight. My silly little dream did come true. The best part of the two sessions was that my two go-karts had my two favourite numbers on it, #2 and #7. I couldn’t have asked for any better. Big thanks to Singapore Airlines, KF1 Karting and Singapore Grand Prix for putting on this event. Hopefully there’ll be another next year. Bring on the F1 2015 Singapore Grand Prix!

2013 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix – My story from the racing weekend

Thursday

The racing weekend usually starts on Thursday not because there is something going on with the circuit officially (well there was the Driver Autograph session and the Pit-Lane walk but I didn’t win either tickets, so much for paying back to die-hard fans), but just to look at the circuit and see if I can bump into one of the drivers. In previous years I’ve met the likes of Heikki Kovalainen, Narain Karthikeyan, Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel in either 2011 (for the first two) or 2008 (the next two). This time, I didn’t get to meet a current F1 driver but I did meet a possible future F1 driver in James Calado, who’s been doing well in F1’s feeder series GP2, and is the new Force India test driver. Also saw Daniel Abt but he just walked away.

Also got to meet Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers Yuey Tan and Rodolfo Avila, big thanks to a friend of mine for allowing me to just talk about racing with those guys like we’re just fans of the sport, you don’t always get to do that with professional racers like those two. I didn’t get to walk around the circuit due to the heavy presence of security, but I did get to see the GP2 cars almost up close, they’ve moved to the support paddock opposite Marina Square. Also went to Millenia Walk later on the day to catch a glimpse of Mercedes F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. No luck with getting their autographs.

GP2 car of Daniel Abt up close

Friday

That Friday was possibly one of my longest days, starting from leaving the house at 9am to getting back home at about 12.30am! I didn’t just enjoy the action at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the first two practice of F1 and also GP2 practice and qualifying (also staying back to watch Korea’s Big Bang at the Padang stage for my cousins) but also the UBS Go-Kart Challenge with David Coulthard. I did one post just for the UBS go-kart challenge before this post so check it out.

After the super fun but extremely tiring go-kart race with David Coulthard, which I finished side-by-side with him. We got dropped off at the same place they picked us up, and guess who I saw there? DC himself, he had just finished a appearance for UBS, giving prizes to the winners of the simulator challenge (I didn’t do so well for that one). It was cool that he noticed us and I said to him to enjoy the weekend and he said to me to enjoy my weekend too. After my lunch/dinner at Burger King, it’s off to the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

I started my “adventure” at Gate 6, just opposite the Fullerton Hotel, with a good view of the Turn 13 hairpin, the same place where I stood to watch my first race live back in 2011. I missed the first session which was the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia practice and barely made it to the start of the GP2 practice session, watching the future F1 starts making their way through Turn 13, and this time, getting much better pictures there than I did back in 2011. That day I saw a number of guys making mistakes there, this time, I didn’t see any mistakes. That’s because I wasn’t there when the mistakes happened in the first F1 practice session, I had moved elsewhere.

Really liking this shot of Alex Rossi’s Caterham, all green around!

I made my way down to the Esplanade Straight, just before Turn 14 to see the final bits of the GP2 practice, hearing the cars at full power. For that reason, I stayed there for the first practice session for the F1 guys. I do like that spot as you can really hear the cars working, downshifting going into Turn 14 and even see sparks coming off these cars. I would have moved around if not for my friend letting me know that he was coming along and wanted to meet me. Still, I did get to see the cars (if I could catch them) at their very best down that straight.

After that session, my friend wanted to get his dinner at Macs, which I knew would be packed, so I told him to get it dinner while I enjoy GP2 qualifying, which I missed half the session because of the long line going into Gate 3, which is the popular spot (just off Raffles City mall). I caught the GP2 qualifying action from just after Turn 8 and didn’t realise that the spot I chose was actually not bad, so I stayed on for the start of the second practice session. We moved over to the Bay Grandstand next as my friend wanted to see what view he would get from his ticket. Of course, I had to check out the view too so we swapped tickets for a while and I have to say, even from the second last row of the Bay Grandstand, the view isn’t all that bad!

Daniel Ricciardo driving under the grandstand!

After checking out the view, we made our way to the Padang stage, trying to get a good view to catch K-Pop stars Big Bang. First of all, I’m not big on K-Pop but some people in my family are, so I was trying to get some pics and videos just for them. Those guys aren’t that bad, just their fans there were a bit too crazy, pushing around just to get a better view, I nearly dropped my $1,000 Nikon camera thanks to one idiot. I got so pissed off I just left after 30 minutes, I just couldn’t take getting pushed around for no reason anymore. Plus, I was freaking tired at that point haha!

Saturday

Not an early start for me on Saturday luckily but I still went earlier than usual, I got to Gate 2 just off Millenia Walk by 3pm and didn’t realise the gates only opened at 3pm so I was one of the first few lining up. I didn’t know this was also a good spot to see a number of F1 personnel. I was walking right behind McLaren’s Sam Michael the whole way to the Singapore Flyer and also saw the likes of Stefano Domenicalli of Ferrari and Guillaume Roquelin of Red Bull. That wasn’t all the people I saw.

I moved over to the GP2 support paddock and saw all the cars lined up, but not the drivers. I stood by near the entrance of the support paddock and then saw GP2 drivers one by one, walking out of the support paddock and to their cars. The one person I almost got to ask a pic for was the one guy I was hoping to meet, Alexander Rossi. I was a bit too starstruck to even ask him initially and when I started moving, he was heading off to his car. Damn my luck.

I made my way to a viewing platform just opposite pit-lane, all the way to the right of the pit grandstand, meaning I got a good view of the cars going past at the start. I had hoped to catch the action from Turn 3 but for some reason the viewing platform wasn’t there. I stuck around for a few laps, just seeing the cars fly past before heading off Turn 23, the same place I had decided I would watch the race from for Sunday. On the way I got to see one of my classmates working at the pit granstand so that was a nice surprise. After a short while of watching the action from Turn 23, I moved over to Turn 22, I might as well wait for the action at Turn 23 till Sunday.

The spot I found at Turn 22 wasn’t that good with many catch fences as it was for the photographers but interestingly none of them were there for the GP2 Feature race, giving me some good shots from that angle. For the last few laps, I went over to Turn 21, that’s one of the better spots to take pictures of these cars. It was there that I saw Felipe Nasr lock up, and one lap later, his team-mate Jolyon Palmer overtook him for the win. Good to see James Calado finishing on the podium too, hope he gets a drive in F1 soon.

Lots of close racing going on here

I headed back to Turn 22 for the first part of Practice 3 before heading back to Turn 21. This time, the pro photographers did block my view, making it more tricky for me to get some good pictures but when I had a gap, man were those pictures great! Plus, there’s something about the last two corners at Turn 22 and 23 that always attracts me there, the two quickest (and proper) corners on track, you get to see the cars at their best (and worst for those cars that are rubbish).

Really liked this shot of Paul di Resta going through Turn 22, one of my better shots

After the session, I headed over to the Esplanade Outdoor Theater to catch The Dhol Foundation in action. Those guys are just simply awesome, the were probably the only ones for the off-track entertainment that I wanted to catch (and that includes The Killers and Rihana). How awesome were they with their dhols? They didn’t just play Bhangra songs, they also did Reggae and even Irish Folk! I thought their acoustic set was awesome too. I had to leave before their show ended, hoping I had a good spot for F1 qualifying at my usual spot of Turn 16.

I had a decent spot but the place changed the last time I was there (2011), so I didn’t get as good views as I used to but hey, they still had a superscreen there, so that’s all good for me. I thought I’d have some fun by trying to get close up shots of the driver’s helmets, I sure need more work on my timing and my focus to get them just right. Q3 was an interesting session, Sebastian Vettel did the one lap and never went out for a second run. That nearly backfired with Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg all doing quick laps but Rosberg just missed out, which made the Vettel fan-girls next to me scream like crazy. Jeez, it’s just a pole position.

Seb Vettel and his sparkling helmet on his way to another pole position

Sunday

Last day of the racing weekend and once again, I’m making my way through the circuit from Gate 2, realizing that’s the best place to spot drivers or personnel. I did get to see PCCA driver Earl Bamber but couldn’t get a picture of him. I headed straight for my spot at the viewing platform at Turn 23 and guess what, no-one else was around, giving me enough time to find the right spot. Soon I was joined by a couple of Aussie peeps, and hey, it’s always good to be around these Aussies, they’s always the ones who make the atmosphere more fun. Makes it better for me that I’m also a Mark Webber fan and sporting his shirt. Heck, even an English lady next to me was a Webber fan, we were turning that spot to the Mark Webber fan zone haha! That was until other fans joined in.

The first piece of action was the GP2 sprint race, the one were pit-stops are not needed but strangely enough, there were a lot of pit-stops in that race, the tyres just didn’t go well for some guys. It sucked to see Alex Rossi with wing damage at the start, he was the first to make his way to pit-lane with his broken front wing. I also spotted Stefano Coletti with front wing damage before he made his stop. It was another good race, the mid-grid action was the best with cars closely following each other. Great to see Sam Bird taking the win, his fifth of the season. The guy deserves a shot in F1.

Sam Bird on his way to his 5th GP2 win of this year

Next up was the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race and well, we didn’t get much of a race because of a strange incident. A one car crash on Lap 2 didn’t look big, it caused the safety car but it looked as if they could get the car away quickly but it took them 6 or 7 laps out of the 12 scheduled to get the car to a safe place, the car was badly damaged. There were a lot of good racing there too, and Rodolfo Avila got some overtakes in front of me, thanks man! He and Yuey Tan even raced with each other for a while, both those guys sure were friendly when I met them on Thursday. Bamber won the race ahead of Craig Baird, who had won this race for the last two years.

After that was the F1 driver’s parade and this one was a bit different for me. I hadn’t realised that right opposite me was the spot where the drivers would drop off after the parade and that meant I had a bit of trouble trying to get some of the drivers in my video. I missed Lewis Hamilton in my view as he went off his parade classic car right away, some of the fans were not happy about that haha! Of course, Mark Webber and Jenson Button got some of the louder cheers along with Raikkonen, Vettel and Alonso. And well, being around a bunch of Aussies, there were loud cheers for Daniel Ricciardo too, and he gave us all a thumbs up!

I got a great view of the last two rows on the grid but the only guy I could see was Max Chilton, who walked past opposite us for his little break for the race. Turn 23 turned out to be a good spot, you can tell which cars were great around the last two quick corners and which ones were rubbish. The Marussia cars always looked like it would go off, they were really unstable at times. So it was pretty funny that apart from Chilton’s second lap off moment there, they didn’t go off at the corner. Esteban Gutierrez nearly hit the wall in front of us in his Sauber, I really thought he would head straight for it, but he saved it! Valtteri Bottas also went off but wasn’t as dramatic as Gutierrez’s off moment.

Close call for Gutierrez

After the safety car, the race got more interesting and everytime Mark Webber made an overtake, there were loud cheers going around my area. There were even louder cheers when Paul di Resta crashed with a few laps to go. Not the fans didn’t like him, but it looked like the safety car might come out and cut Vettel’s huge gap and mean Webber would be right in front of Raikkonen for the last podium spot. We kept looking at the marshals, some even shouting at them to put up the “SC” board haha!

It never went up and Vettel had an easy run to the flag. Alonso finished 2nd with Raikkonen taking 3rd, amazing drives by both former champions (Alonso started 7th, Raikkonen started 13th and had back issues), and they’ll be Ferrari team-mates next year! Webber didn’t finish 4th. Heck, he didn’t finish the last lap. I saw smokes count out of his car with one lap to go and he stopped with two thirds of the circuit to go. But hey, he gave us that classic shot when Alonso gave him a lift back to the pits, that rarely happens! I never thought my last picture of Mark Webber would be that of him being on Alonso’s car getting a taxi ride back to the pits.

Webber getting a lift from Alonso after his Red Bull car failed on him on the last lap

After the safety car went through the circuit, mayhem ensued! Fans running to the podium, hoping to catch the podium finishers up close. I did join in when they were playing the Austrian national anthem for Red Bull, I mean that anthem was freaking long. So long that when I got to the track, Raikkonen just got this 3rd place trophy, so I got a good shot of the guys spraying the champagne! Of course, we had the whole controversy of the booing of Seb Vettel on the podium but that only happened the second time Martin Brundle spoke to him. And at the same time, there were a lot of Alonso chants too, need me to tell you who were booing Vettel? No surprises there I guess.

After checking out the pit-lane, seeing the Sky Sports doing their thing just outside the Red Bull garage and seeing the cars at parc ferme, it was time for me to head back home. I got delayed when I saw The Dhol Foundation playing at the Village Stage, so why the heck not? Just stay back a little bit more to watch them playing their awesome dhols, these guys are just mega! 2013 Singapore Grand Prix is done, I can’t wait for the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix to start already. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the sights of another race before it, bring 2014 on!

Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen celebrate their podium finish at the 2013 F1 Singapore Grand Prix

UBS Go-Kart Challenge with David Coulthard – My story of that event

I couldn’t tell you how excited I was when I found out that I was one of the lucky five chose to compete in this event. I mean, we got a chance to race with David Coulthard! Yes, that same guy who drove for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull and have won 13 grand prix in his career! And being a McLaren fan myself, I had always been a DC fan during that era so I got a chance to race one of my favourite drivers in the early days of me watching F1. I’ve done some runs in those fun Go-Karts a couple of times but this was my first time being in a “competitive” racing sessions, those guys treated the whole thing like one. I’ve done some runs in those fun Go-Karts a couple of times but this was my first time being in a “competitive” racing sessions, those guys treated the whole thing like one.

The kind people at UBS picked us up at their offices at Raffles and we made the long trip to Kartright Speedway (which is at Jurong, the very west of Singapore). Kartright was the first “race-track” t o be opened in Singapore in 2010 but this was my first time racing there. The track itself was not bad, best go-kart track I’ve driven at so far. I asked my brother to accompany me to the event and get some pictures for me but the UBS people were lacking some racers to fill the grid of 20, so they asked my brother to join in the fun, that lucky bugger. The first session was the practice session for us contests winners and just before it started, David Coulthard showed up, and of course, I had to meet him right away, it’s DC damn it!

David Coulthard! Seen him race many times, now I get to see him race real up close

I only realised as we were getting ready for the practice session that most of the people I was up against we were pro-karters themselves or have driven go-karts on a regular basis, with me being the least experienced. I knew I had to do my very best to get into the grand final, my best practice time was just 57 seconds, not good so far. For the qualifying session, I did find some time and got a 53 second lap. All there was left to do was watch the second session and hope I’ve done enough.

I didn’t keep track of my time for most part of that session, just seeing what my brother was doing. He had been doing laps of 62+ seconds for the most time before he did a 57 second lap on his last effort. There were a few guys who did 52s laps and some 53s laps, so I had to wait to know if my time was good enough. I would know if I made it when the published the grid for the “mini-final” and my name wasn’t on it, so I made it. My brother didn’t do so well and finished a lap down but he was suffering with his wrist, just like I was. We didn’t have gloves like most others. Now it was time for the grand final, and I’m happy that I’ve got into that grand final, that’s all I wanted because I knew I wouldn’t be competitive against the others haha!

Me and the legendary David Coulthard!

I was bound to start 7th and I had the legendary David Coulthard starting next to me. I wished him luck just before we got into our karts and he told me “just have fun out there”. It was a 10 car grid with two guys starting in pit-lane (one was supposed to start on pole but was penalised). DC had a mega start, squeezing his way through the field already and I was trying to pick up the pieces but I couldn’t do much. I tried my best to keep up with the rest but I just couldn’t. Then again, this was my first “race” against people who’ve raced many times before, all I wanted to do was to finish on the lead lap and hopefully not last.

I did get past one guy who was struggling more than myself with a nice outside pass, showing that I can race these guys, too bad I didn’t have the speed. DC had made his way to the front in just two laps but after a while, he drove through pit-lane just to have some fun. The two fastest guys the whole way battled for the lead and finishing 1-2, just not in the order most expected. DC was fighting for 3rd before he slowed down just before the line, allowing everyone to pass him. I didn’t want to beat a legend like him that way so I slowed down too just before the line, trying to make it a dead heat between us but I messed up, David beat me by some 0.2 seconds. I finished 8th in the end but hey, for my first race, I finished side-by-side with David Coulthard, no matter the situation, no-one can ever take that away from me haha! Still wondering if anyone had a good picture of it.

Ok, so they spelled my name wrongly but that’s ok, my name is just below David Coulthard’s! Now that’s freaking cool.

I was a bit dissapointed with my own race, hoping I could at least fight for a top 5 spot but then again, I never really stood a chance. Oh well, I did get to race with David Coulthard, so that was super cool, and I got to speak to him as if we were good friends. I also got him to sign his book “It Is What It Is” and his 2000 McLaren F1 Minichamp diecast! People have called him the gentleman racer, he sure is a gent! I didn’t win anything but I did get some stuff from UBS and also the cake but that never made it home haha! Big thanks to UBS for setting this up, never had so much fun at an event like this in a long while. How I wish I could do go-kart racing or any kind of racing for a living, now that’s my dream job.

If only I could do this for real!

Great September so far

I can safely say I’m kinda enjoying this month’s holiday break for me. The way my school works, we study for two months, rest for one, so September is the third “rest” month for me, and so far, the fun one too haha! Not just because the Singapore Grand Prix is just next week, but a few things have been happening too.

This time last week, I was looking forward to seeing WWE legend Booker T in Singapore for the first time ever in a meet and greet session and I got to meet him. This time next week, I won’t just be looking forward to the first days action of the Singapore Grand Prix with Friday Practice but also I’ll be looking forward to meeting F1 legend David Coulthard! Yup, I won some UBS Go-Kart contest to race with him along with 4 others, so I can’t wait for that. The contest theme was about “I love racing”, no surprise that I won right? The picture that won it for me was my 70+ F1 diecast collection. Then again, it does show how much I love racing!

That’s the picture that won it for me.

Also, this time last year, I wasn’t quite looking forward to returning back to Singapore from my two month stay over in Sacramento, California at my cousin’s place. I had just finished my two year National Service, I had two months of nothing to do, might as well visit my family overseas, better than rotting at home and doing nothing in this hot weather. I do love the weather there, especially at the Bay Area (San Francisco/Berkeley), would love to stay there!

With nothing to do, I’d usually turn to my games and I finally bought White 2 after a year of waiting. The second version feels a lot different than the first version, that much I’ll say. It’s like playing a different version with a few similarities. And yup, I’ve already beaten the champion, easiest league match ever (too much training helps). Also been playing Football Manager 2013 and got Scottish side Queen’s Park from the 3rd division to the 1st division and on course to make it to the Premier Division. Now, what other games can I play before school starts. WWE 2K14 and F1 2013 won’t be coming out soon, so that sucks.

So next week in the Singapore Grand Prix, I can’t wait for it as always. I still have not made up my mind on where I’ll be watching the race from (Sunday’s action I meant). I thought watching the action from Turn 7-8 would be a great spot, too bad my view was blocked by some tall buggers the whole time, should have gotten there earlier. This time, I might decide on Turns 22-23 or Turn 3 (I’ve got walkabout tickets if anyone is wondering). I’ll be walking around the circuit as usual, just enjoying the event. Hopefully I’ll get to meet one of the drivers again, I’ve bumped into one or two in the last few years (nobody last year in Singapore, a number of guys in Melbourne though). Bring on the racing weekend!

2012: What a great year

So in less than two days time, 2012 is history and 2013 is the now. I can’t say I’m looking forward to 2013, nothing real planned apart from study, study and yeah, study! Kinda like 2011 for me, work, work and yeah, work! So just as I wasn’t looking forward to 2011, it’ll be the same story for 2013. Just wanting to reach 2014 and hopefully start a new chapter in this crazy life of mine. I got to do many things in 2012, mostly the mid part of the year, and many memorable moments as well.

Didn’t really do much for the first two months apart from checking out the Singapore Air Show for once, which was kinda cool. Not often do you get to see aviation displays so why not? And it wasn’t just displays in the exhibition hall, there was one in the skies too, which was great to see.

The last time I went on an overseas trip was just before I started serving the Army, that being my one month stay in Canada (Vancouver and Calgary). So it was nice to have a short trip overseas away from work for once, spending a week during March in Melbourne, Australia, which was my first time back down under since 20 years ago (I was just 2 years old when I visited Sydney). Really had a good time in Melbourne, great city and got to see most of downtown Melbourne and also the Great Ocean Road. And of course, I was there for another reason, the 2012 F1 Australian Grand Prix. That was my fourth F1 event (second watching the actual race live) and the first time outside of Singapore.

Gotta say the whole event in the Albert Park circuit was great, a must go for anyone who are into cars. Lots of racing action and car displays, I think I saw about 500 cars at least on display. The good thing about the Aussie GP, you actually get to see the drivers (F1 and V8 Supercar drivers too) on the Thursday (or other days for non-F1) for the autograph sessions, and walk the pit-lane if you have a pass (which I did). Had some good seats for the race at the Schumacher stand, and Jenson Button won it, and he’s my favourite in F1 these days, so all good for me!

For April, I didn’t do much again, but I did get to visit Genting Highlands for the first time in almost 10 years (I think), and I had my fun there, with all the rides and everything else. I had to wait an hour to do a freaking go kart race, the main thing I was looking forward to, and you need a passport to do even ride them, which wasted my time even more. The delay was due to weather, after all, we’re in the moutains, it was hazy and raining. So I had my go-kart run in the wet weather, and that was fun!

For the most part of January to July, I was still serving the Army, just counting down to the magical date, “August 1st 2012”, the day of my freedom. 2011 was a crazy year of too much work, so I slacked most of the time in 2012, doing whatever I needed to do and just wanting to get out of that horrible place I call my camp, full of idiots and only a few good people there. So yeah, August 1st came, I did my medical on the same day as my ORD date, did the usual things, and that’s the last time I’ve been there! FREEDOM!

And two days later, I’m back at Changi Airport for my second trip overseas (3 if you count Genting in Malaysia, but my second flight, which is still the most I’ve done in a year ever, 2 flights), and off I went to California, USA to stay with family there for nearly 2 months. Had an awesome time there with my awesome family, got to see Sacramento, San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Burbank, Santa Monica and many more. I love it there, I hope I can move to North California soon. Would love to stay at San Francisco, the weather at the Bay Area is just wonderful there.

What would you do if you’re near Los Angeles? Go to Disneyland of course! Even for the bunch of us who went there, and not kids anymore, still a great place to have some fun. I got to see an IndyCar race too for the first time over in Sonoma, and the show there was awesome. Was as good at the one in Australia for the F1 race there, which means better than Singapore. And for my first live IndyCar race, the guy who won it had to be Ryan Briscoe, the same guy who got me into watching IndyCars in the first place and will always be my favourite driver in IndyCars. That was his first win in two years, and his last win for Team Penske. At least I can say I saw it live! Wish I had more time to explore San Francisco other than checking out the obvious, the Golden Gate Bridge, hopefully I’ll be back soon!

Back home by September, and on the second day, had to go to my new school for some rubbish orientation program. They are incredibly boring. And yes, late September in Singapore can only mean one thing, Singapore Grand Prix. Fourth straight year catching the action, second time watching the full weekend live, and for the first time, had walkabout tickets to go to every zones. Worth the money for sure, got to see a lot of good action for zones I hadn’t been to before. Good show as always, too bad I took the wrong spot for the race, view was blocked the whole time! Got to see Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Noel Gallagher’s high flying birds in action. Noel being my favourite musician of all time, that was awesome even though I didn’t get to see him for all that much because of the F1 scheduling. Still, I finally saw him live! As for the other two, became fans of the other two from their shows. Sebastian Vettel won the race again, so that made it three races I watched this year, all won by drivers I’m fans of.

From October onwards till November, study and more studying in my new school at SIM. Back to studying Accounting, it involves numbers in some ways, I like dealing with numbers, so why not? Slacked for the whole of December playing games, with school starting in January (first day back had to be on my birthday huh?). It’s been a great year, visiting some cool places, good some stuff, enjoying my time with my family in America, watching fast cars three times, and most of all, free of any stupid orders! 2012 probably has been one of my better years, 2013 will probably be the year I just concentrate on studying, no plans to go anywhere yet, so hopefully 2014 will be another enjoyable year again! Next up for me, to know how it feels like to be a 23 year old!

2012 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix – My story from the weekend

Another Singapore Grand Prix done and dusted, and the good news is, there will be more to come with the race organisers having extended their deal for another 5 more years, something we all found out in the middle of all the action on Saturday. This event always seems to amaze me, be it the action on track or off it too, with some of the big names from the music industry also showing up and performing. For me, it’s the best of both worlds. I like watching motoracing and listening to music. They don’t just have Formula One cars in action but a host of junior series, including GP2 for the first time in Singapore, and a few big name performers.

Things didn’t start out well on Friday, as it was raining when I got to the circuit, and silly me didn’t bring a coat or anything, so I had to spend two dollars on poncho. The GP2 practice session was first up, and because it was still so wet, those guys had to use the Wet tyres, and there’s always going to be some good action in the wet in slow corners, so I just had to make my way to Turn 14 first to get some good shots and then Turn 8. And sure enough, a few guys did have some close calls at both these corners. One even went straight for the barrier, and I caught that on video!

For the first practice session for F1, I found a nice spot at Turn 21, looking straight at the cars making their ways through Turns 20 and 21, and if it wasn’t for a bunch of pushy people trying to act all high and mighty thinking it was their ground and they can do whatever the hell they wanted (screw you idiots), I could have gotten a few more good shots out of it. For the rest of the session, I went just outside the exit of Turn 21, just to hear the loud engines at full power, and yes I took my headphones off for a while (why not?). Crossing the bridge and saw the action for a while from the other side of Turn 21 before making my way to the Singapore Flyer, overlooking the exit of Turn 21. If not for the fences, that would have been a good spot to get some good shots as well. Near the end of the session, Vitaly Petrov smacked the wall right in front of us. He had earlier given me a nice shot of him going sideways through Turn 21, but I wasn’t ready this time around.

I didn’t catch the GP2 qualifying, the only time for the whole weekend that they would run at night, but I did catch the cars just before they got out on track for qualifying, all of them were lining up just outside the Singapore Flyer, so it was pretty cool to see the cars and the stars up close for once. For the second F1 practice, I thought it would be pretty cool to check out the action from the top of the Esplanade, and that was really something. Too bad the pictures weren’t that great, why are some Singaporeans so pushy all the time, I just wanted to take a few pictures, that was all! Some people really are a bunch of idiots. I went down to Turn 14 again, now from the inside, to get a few other pictures.

Friday is probably the best time to get some really good pictures as there won’t be many people around so you don’t have to worry about finding spots, and you can roam around easily as I did for that very reason. I did the same thing for Saturday’s F1 practice and qualifying, and the GP2 feature race too. It was cool to see the cars going around Turns 22 and 23, with the Singapore Flyer overlooking the whole action. I had the tickets that would allow me to go on the Singapore Flyer….FOR FREE! But I did promise my cousins I would take them there sometime in the future and that would be my first time on the Flyer too, and I’m a man of my word, so I’ll wait. I tried to get some shots of the cars going past the Singapore Flyer, but there’s not much you can do with those pesky catch fences ruining your pictures. The GP2 action was quite good, lots of overtaking from where I was (which was Turn 5 on both sides) and I was right there to see the first lap crash at Turn 5 too. I would end up making my way to the start/finish straight area and was in time to see the podium celebration, Max Chilton was the race winner. Not much happened for the F1 qualifying, except for the fact that Sebastian Vettel, who had topped all three practice sessions, only got 3rd for qualifying, beaten by Pastor Maldonado (how?) and Lewis Hamilton, who made it 4 poles in a row for McLaren.

As I said, the action just isn’t on track for the Singapore Grand Prix, there are some off it too. There tends to be a lot of things going on at the village areas, but I didn’t check them out that much this time out, except for the one over at Zone 1, since it was my first time at that part of the circuit. I didn’t see any acts on Friday, no-one interesting of note to catch. I mean, I would rather watch Korea’s Big Bang (last year’s main attraction for Friday) than the Taiwanese guy who was the main attraction for Friday, Jay Chou, whoever the hell he is. At least there were two big names for Saturday, the main one being Maroon 5 (and it took me nearly an hour to get to the Padang stage, which normally would only take me 15 minutes!). They were pretty good, made a fan out of me at the end of the night. They might have been the main attraction for Saturday, but the one I wanted to see was the main attraction over at the village stage, none other than Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. I had to see my favourite musician live since he’s here in Singapore.

I’ve always been a fan of Oasis and Noel Gallagher, so that was a real treat for myself to see the legend himself with my own eyes. Their self titled album is just awesome, best album I’ve heard in a while. Sunday’s closing act is probably one of the biggest stars around (to everyone else, to me it was Noel Gallagher), Katy Perry. She too made a fan out of me with some of her music, her show was good too, espicially the top hit “Firework”. And yes, there were fireworks going off too during that awesome song. Glad to have caught all three of them in action.

I had originally planned to watch the Sunday’s action from Turn 3, but having seen the place for myself the day before, I didn’t think it would be all that great, the catch fences really would screw up most of my pictures. I caught the GP2 sprint race action, firstly near the start/finish itself, then to Turn 23 and finally back to Turn 21, and then over to Turn 22 to get some good shots of those GP2 cars. Last year, I wanted to watch from just before Turn 8, the same place where Michael Schumacher had his big moment. So I caught the action there this year. Good place to watch some really good action, espicially some side by side moments. Not so good place to get photos, espicially as there were many people around there, all doing the same thing! Hate being short sometimes, and hate coming late too sometimes, I could have gotten a better place if I had gotten there a bit earlier. Oh well. Still, I did get a good view of the drivers during the driver’s parade, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

The race itself was quite interesting, Hamilton lead Vettel for the first part of the race quite comfortably before he had his gearbox failure, taking him out of the race. Vettel then lead from Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, who was chased the whole time by Paul di Resta. Narain Karthikeyan brought out the first Safety Car after he hit the “mini-tunnel” at Turn 18. The second safety car came out a few laps later, yet another Michael Schumacher moment, he ran into the back of Jean-Eric Vergne’s car at Turn 14. He did give us all a wave over at the viewing platform just before Turn 8. I wonder if he was waving goodbye too. Vettel went on to win the race quite easily, his second win of the season and his second in Singapore, thus making him the first guy to win in Singapore back to back. It was nice to see Button finishing on the podium. Every grand prix I’ve been to so far (Singapore 2011, Australia 2012 and Singapore 2012), Vettel and Button have been on the podium on each occasion (1-2s as well) and Schumacher have retired in all of them. See a patern emerging here? I guess my dad and my brother may not want me to watch any more grand prix from now on! Haha!

It was another great event, three days of fun, listening to some good music and watching the best young drivers showcasing their talents and also watching the best drivers in the world battle it out in one of the hardest circuits in the world. That was also my third race watching live this year, having previously watched the 2012 F1 Australian Grand Prix and the 2012 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, all three were really good in their own special ways. I can’t wait for the 2013 Singapore GP already!

Can’t wait for more!