Night Fever

So the Singapore Grand Prix has been and gone in a flash of blinding lights and flying sparks. The overwhelming response to Formula One’s first foray into the glitz and glamour of Raffles Boulevard was that is was a massive success - ‘wasn’t it spectacular!’ they'll say; ‘look at all the shiny cars flying through the bright city – it’s like a computer game!’ they shout whilst they count their piles of Singapore Dollars. Well, yes – to an extent, it was. You can’t deny it was a dazzling display – the floodlights bouncing of the gleaming cars as they shot around a bumpy, testing track with the backdrop of Singapore’s glittering and soaring skyline thrown in for good measure made it a true visual orgasm – it was like Emmanuelle for petrolheads.

The enthusiasm of the Pacific Rim nations for the sport is admirable too; thousands flocked to fill the grandstands and cheer on their heroes; if only they knew how much they were being manipulated by the little man!

All this, though – the glitz, the glamour, the enthusiasm – was largely irrelevant. The race was eventful, perhaps even exciting – but for all the wrong reasons. The weekend was littered with complaints of the traditional lack of overtaking opportunities, which for a newly built track, is scandalous. The first thing any sane person would account for in building a race circuit is where cars can overtake. It was only because of some hapless Ferrari mechanics and the fact Nelson Piquet seems to harbour a desire to chat with Louise Goodman about his retirement from a race at the earliest opportunity that anything significant happened this weekend.

What would have happened without the safety car? Massa and Ferrari could still have made the re-fuelling error, but Hamilton, Kubica and Raikonnen et al would probably have filled up, put some new boots on and been on their merry way. Coulthard, Rosberg and more importantly Alonso, would have been nowhere. And so would most of the action. Needing cars to clatter into the Armco to inject a bit of action into a race, exciting as it is, is not the way it should be done.

For a so-called action-packed race, there was little overtaking to speak of amidst the top six. James Allen and Martin Brundle wasted no time in fawning over the new dawn of Formula One night racing, but to your run-of-the-mill fan who’s watching in Swindon on a wet Sunday afternoon, it’s not going to make much difference.

Its all well and good Bernie Ecclestone relocating to the Pacific Rim for the obvious lucrative opportunities available, and I’ve no doubt other Asian countries – the likes of Japan, Malaysia and China – will be falling over themselves to hold night races too. All of it was in aid of pandering to European markets who are sick of having their cornflakes in the dark as the tune in to F1 at three in the morning – but Bernie, surely it would be simpler - if you really want to keep the European markets happy – to safeguard the likes of the British and French Grand Prix? Both of these are held at normal times, and give fans the opportunity to become a part of the atmosphere and excitement – a pretty simple answer, you’d think. But ah – they’re not waving the cash!

There was me thinking Formula One was about the racing – but really, everything about the Grand Prix in Singapore this weekend compounded the fact that the exact opposite is the case.