(Part two of the F1 experience)
The road to Fort Canning Park is long, winding and not exactly the kind you take on for pleasure. But those of us lucky enough to secure tickets to F1 Rocks! happily made the climb. With Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas dangling like proverbial carrots at the end of the stick, we figured it was well worth the uphill struggle.
Fort Canning, as Wilson Wong, our guide, informed us, is where city founder Stamford Raffles erected his first residence, thereby sequestering a commanding view of the trade colony he had just established. Subsequently, it became the residence of governors, earning the name Government Hill. In 1859, it was turned into a fort under the British Army, and christened Fort Canning, after then governor general Charles John Canning.
The 60-meter hill is now a recreational park and venue for Singapore’s cultural activities and concerts, including F1 Rocks!, the culminating event of the Singapore Tourism Board’s series of lifestyle experiences designed to fuel crowd fervor for the 2009 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix season.
The thing about Fort Canning is that you think when you get to the top, your struggles are over. They’re not. After climbing up the steep incline (which, to be fair, was paved), past a mini theatre and a couple hundred more steps to the top, we thought we’d be able to secure a good spot and relax while waiting for the concert. But when we got to the top, marshals waved us toward a grass field, several meters DOWN, where the other fans were sprawled. So much for resting.
Beyonce on their minds
The air was ripe with anticipation (not to mention sweat–it was an open air venue and the night was really muggy), but the mood was quite friendly, as humanity flowed from one end of the park to the other, moving to the music churned out by DJ Havana Brown as a prelude to the Black Eyed Peas’ set.
Tickets to the final leg of the three-day concert series—which already featured cantopop superstars Jacky Cheung and A*Mei, No Doubt, ZZ Top, Simple Minds, and N.E.R.D.S.—were extremely hard to come by. At S$250 (a little more than P8,000), with no guaranteed seating (heck with no seating at all, except for a plastic chair that Wilson kindly brought along for me), it hardly seemed like a good deal at all. But believe me, it was.
The first strains of Black Eyed Peas’ “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” had everyone on their feet. The Peas came on board at around 9 p.m. and had the audience rocking to hits like “Pump It,” “Boom Boom Pow,” “Where is the Love” and “I’ve Got a Feeling.”
The short (little less than an hour) set got the crowd totally revved up for the midnight rendezvous with Beyonce, who waited until a half hour past that to stage her entrance. And what a grand entrance it was! She came in full concert regalia—big hair, full-on makeup and glittering leotard—opening the set with her first solo hit, “Crazy in Love.”
Decorum was totally forgotten as all of us strained to raise our cameras above the crowd to get good shots of the voluptuous diva. By the third song, Beyonce was a melting pot of hair, makeup, and costume glitter as she struggled to mop the sweat from her face. But we didn’t care. Beyonce was larger than life—and we aren’t referring exclusively to the huge ass electronic screen panels that projected her face to the audience when we say that.
It took Beyonce an hour and a half of throwing her head, hips and arms in wild abandon, not to mention about three costume changes, to get through her set, bowing out with a fitting tribute to Michael Jackson via twin hits “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” and “Halo.”
Tired and totally drained from our concert experience, we went back to the hotel to sleep and recharge for Race Day.
It all boils down to this
Race Day dawned with a bit of cloud cover, but that didn’t dampen the excitement felt around the city—it was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. Along Orchard Road, where celebrated photographer Paul-Henri Cahier had mounted his outdoor exhibit, entitled The First Night Race, fans as well as first timers like me trawled the official F1 booths for souvenirs to bring home. Goods, ranging from S$300 (a little more than P10,000) black Vodafone/Lewis Hamilton race jackets to S$10 (P340) Matchbox replicas of Kimi Raikkonen’s red Ferrari were flying off the shelves in many places. Even the official umbrellas sold like hotcakes at S$80 (P2,700).
The lines began forming as early as 3 p.m. at the Padang entrance. We were in the stands facing the city hall. Security was tight as each bag was carefully inspected for prohibited items—no folding chairs (though how that would fit inside a backpack totally baffles me), no glass bottles, no laser pointers, no pets (PETS?!!), no professional audio visual equipment or cameras (except if you’re a member of the media), no bringing of food and beverage, and of course, no weapons. Survival kits, containing a pair of earplugs and a clear plastic raincoat, were sold for S$2 each at the entrance.
The circuit was bathed in blinding light, lit up by thousands of 2000-watt halide lamps that give off 3,000 lux luminosity. (Ironically, the drivers had to wear tinted visors at night to protect their eyes from the glare.) Several modifications were reportedly made to the circuit to aid overtaking and make the track more competitive.
All eyes were on McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, last year’s Grand Prix world champion, who took pole position after winning the qualifying race the day before. The British driver, who finished third in last year’s race behind Williams’ Nico Rosberg and eventual race winner Fernando Alonso, earlier complained that the track was “too bumpy.”
Hamilton set the pace throughout the 61-lap race, which was marred by several violations as Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel jockeyed for second place position, along with Renault’s Alonso. An accident during Lap 21 necessitated the deployment of the safety car.
The safety car left the track at Lap 25, with Vettel coming on very strong, at one point challenging Hamilton for the lead, but his impatience to get on track after his second pitstop not only damaged his underbelly but also earned him a drive-through penalty. Brawn’s Jenson Button, the current Grand Prix leader, made his own bid at this point but developed brake problems and could not get past Vettel. Meanwhile, Panasonic’s Timo Glock locked on firmly to second place with his consistent, steady pace.
At the end of the two-hour race, it was Hamilton who got the trophy, as well as the victory kiss from girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls. Glock’s runner-up finish made Toyota Panasonic a serious player in the Grand Prix Circuit, while Alonso’s third place win was a vindication of sorts for the Spaniard (who was racing under a cloud of controversy over team mate Nelson Piquet Jr.’s mishap in last year’s race).
Hamilton flashed an impish smile before splashing his fellow podium finishers with the special F1 champagne kept for such occasions, signalling the start of celebrations—and the endless round of after parties all over the city.
What’s nice about F1 aficionados is that no matter which driver they root for, everyone celebrates in the end. But as we headed off to check out Chaka Khan and the Backstreet Boys at the Circuit park, we realized that the real winner of the race was the Lion City, who managed to raise the bar for other F1 hosts to follow.
So now the question for Singapore is how can it top this season’s success? We probably won’t know the answer to that till next year, but we know one thing for sure, it’s gonna be one hell of a ride.
