[F1] The Singapore Grand Prix 2013: An Unforgettable Experience

It’s been a while but my ears are still ringing with the roar of V8 engines careening around the Marina Bay City Circuit for the 2013 edition of the Singapore Grand Prix. This being my first time catching a Formula One (F1) race despite following the sport for over ten years, I was quite curious if the warning on my ticket stub regarding ear plugs and hearing damage were accurate. After experiencing the race firsthand, I could finally put this matter to bed; if I ever catch another race, I’ll surely make my way down with a noise-cancelling headset because those cars shriek into the night.

Thanks to Red Bull Singapore, I had the rare opportunity to make my way down to the Marina Bay City Circuit and get a behind the scenes look at the F1 paddock, the Red Bull Racing (RBR) Team Garage and the Pit Lane. Making my way to the F1 paddock itself was quite an experience. Exiting City Hall MRT, I honestly had never seen the station that packed and festive before. The place was crawling with security and, at the same time, thousands of tourists and locals who had made their way down to the City Centre for one of the biggest events of the year.

After passing through multiple security gantries and collecting my guest pass (courtesy of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Team), I was led in through the shiny Red Bull Racing Garage along with a few winners from a competition Red Bull organised a few months ago. Once we made it to the pit lane, we were dazzled by the glare of the 1,500 light installations that illuminated the 5 km circuit.

We reached the pit lane just minutes before Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber hopped into their cars for last minute adjustments before heading to the starting grid. Having never been up close and personal with a Formula 1 racing car, the RB9 is a real beauty. I certainly see why Sebastian Vettel named his RB9 car ‘Hungry Heidi’ after German Supermodel Heidi Klum. The drivers truly play second fiddle to the aerodynamic curves of her chassis. It’s hard to look away from the two cars despite all the activities happening down in the garages and amidst the media frenzy. Not to mention having former racing legend David Coulthard reporting just 5 metres away from me. I really appreciated the effort put in by the Chief Designer of RBR, Adrian Newey, for coming up with the car to beat for the 2013 season.

We were ushered out of the paddock and given passes which allowed us to access all the walking zones of the F1 circuit. We made our way down to turn one hoping to catch some explosive actions. To borrow an expression from F1 commentary, we could not wait for the five red lights to illuminate and go out to mark the start of the Grand Prix.

I was actually pretty disappointed that all the cars made it through the opening set of corners unscathed. While it may be controversial for me to say this, who doesn’t look forward to a pile-up at turn one? Of course, no one wanted to see anyone get hurt but, for pure exhilarating entertainment value, that admittedly would have been a sight to behold.

Apart from having your ear drums relentlessly assaulted for two hours, I realised possibly the only problem of watching F1 live is that it is really hard to keep track of what is going on. The massive screens located all over the tracks did help but the 61 laps seemed to be completed in a blur. However, one thing was for certain: Sebastian Vettel was running away with the race and, along with it, the 2013 Drivers Championship.

Having trouble keeping track of the race from street level, perhaps a bird’s eye view would help us out. I was pleasantly amused to discover that so long as we had a pass which allowed us to enter the area around the Singapore Flyer, we got to ride the gigantic Ferris Wheel as well. Once we were a good 100 metres up, we could check out most of the tracks. However, to be fair, it was hard to distinguish the livery from one another since the cars looked very small.

After almost two hours and more than 300 kilometres covered, Sebastian Vettel romped home to victory with possibly the most dominating performance the F1 world had seen in a while. His lead on second-placed Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari was more than a half a minute – an eternity in F1. When I thought the night was over, I was surprised that the organisers had a few other activities lined up which included grand fireworks and a concert by Rihanna.

It was truly a memorable night that I will not forget in a while. My ears definitely won’t let me. As the floodlights beamed down on the track while I made my way back home, it struck me how truly fortunate I was to be able to cover the event. None of this would have been possible if not for the Red Bull Singapore and their campus managers (which incidentally were from pretty much every tertiary institute in Singapore) and, of course, the wonderful editorial and design team at the Ridge Magazine. Thanks everyone and if someone is lucky enough to cover this event next year, I have one piece of advice for you: remember to bring your own food and drinks, and don’t forget those noise-cancelling headsets!