Singapore at 200mph - Attending the Formula 1 Grand Prix

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! I know I know, these greetings are a little (okay a lot) late, as are any new updates to the blog. Between the actual traveling and how busy our "regular" lives became over the past few months, writing new entries got pushed to the back burner. So this entry will be a bit of a throwback to further elaborate on our trip to Southeast Asia, and help get us back on track.

While we were in Singapore (and had thankfully resolved the passport issue mentioned in a previous entry), one of the coolest activities we did was buy tickets and attend the Singapore Formula One (F1) Grand Prix. As a bit of background, F1 racing is the top tier of auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile or FIA. It also attracts some of the world's best drivers to participate, and as a result has a very devoted group of fans following their team's progress (we saw groups of people dressed in licensed outfits walking around the city in the days leading up to the main event). 2015's season had 19 races in as many countries, and we timed our visit to Singapore to be the same weekend as the 13th race in the season.

I had done some reading prior to the actual race, so I learned a few interesting details about this course. The Marina Bay Circuit is a short and twisty course compared to other tracks around the world, so speeds aren't as fast. It was also the first course in F1 history to be a night race; partially so the largest fanbase in Europe would be able to watch it live, and also to help lower the ambient temperature during the race. This last part I REALLY appreciated, even if it meant that it was "only" 75 degrees.

So the two of us and my dad took the subway to our entry gate and entered the zone our tickets allowed us to be in, and explored. We stumbled across some ladies selling inexpensive earplugs, which we decided to buy. Then we scoped out the merchandise shops (SUPER expensive, even when taking exchange rates into account) as well as locating the food vendors. We ate some dinner sitting in one of the grass fields inside the track and listening to a boy band cover band perform on one of the nearby stages. They were quite good!

Delicious food options, if a bit pricey because of the event

Literally in the heart of downtown Singapore

Once we finished eating, we started trying to figure out where we wanted to sit and watch the race. We picked one of the nearby grandstands and tried to walk up, but were stopped by ushers. It turns out that by buying a ticket that said "Walkabout", that was literally all it enabled you to do. There were slightly raised platforms you could stand or sit on, but grandstand access of any kind was only available for other types of tickets (3-day passes, full zone access, etc.). So that was an unexpected limitation, and one I will take into consideration if the opportunity arises to attend another race sometime down the line. We ended up finding seating between turns 14 and 15, and waited for the race to start.

Once it started....wooo hooo! There was no more than 15 feet between where we were standing and the cars streaking by at triple-digit speeds. Being located right after a turn meant that all of the cars were accelerating hard as they drove by, and the noise was incredible. The earplugs we bought when we first arrived turned out to be absolutely necessary to preserve our hearing. Throughout the race we did our best to take pictures of the cars as they whipped past, but as you can see, it was basically impossible to do so with the cameras we had at our disposal.

All kinds of things happened during the race, which made for a crazy night. We heard about a crash on a different part of the course via the loudspeakers nearby, which caused the safety car to come out fairly early on. That safety car made another appearance later because a PERSON got onto the track! Why on earth you'd think that it'd be okay to go there is beyond me. The front-runner at the time (and eventual season winner) Lewis Hamilton ended up retiring from the race due to car trouble, as did a couple of other drivers. Eventually, Sebastian Vettel for Team Ferrari won the race, prompting fireworks and cheering from the Ferrari fans all over the course.

Fireworks!

Having experienced it, I'd definitely attend another race given the chance. So perhaps on a future trip, the stars will align to allow that to happen. Maybe I'll luck out and it'll be somewhere that isn't quite as hot! :)