In many ways we’re pretty lucky.
Y’know, I’m a Singaporean, and there’s nothing I’d love to see more than our own grand prix doing well.
And truth be told, I think the race has done really well all 3 years.
It has provided enough thrills and spills each of the 3 years to keep the general opinion of the Singapore Grand Prix very positive.
It’s always nice to see the international media using words such as “dramatic” when describing last night’s race.
I can sense that the Singapore Grand Prix is fast becoming a highlight of the Formula 1 season…a “must catch”, if you will.
In 2008 we had the infamous Piquet crash, plus the sadly comical Massa pitlane incident…plus the fact that it was simply the first ever night race in Formula 1 history.
(And also the fact that Kimi crashed spectacularly at the Arts House with four laps to go, something which a lot of people seem to have forgotten.)
In 2009, things could have perhaps been considered a bit more subdued as compared to the smash hit of the previous year.
But who can forget the beautiful irony of Romain Grosjean’s Renault crashing at the exact same corner that Piquet crashed at a year earlier?
And also the fact that Lewis Hamilton, a popular choice, took the chequered flag.
That’s about as much as I can remember about 2009, and I was beginning to wonder if our luck had finally run out.
You always need a fair bit of luck in order for a grand prix to be memorable.
Compelling incidents make for memorable races.
And that’s partly why the circuits like Valencia haven’t exactly set the world on fire yet.
I do believe that our circuit is much more looked-forward-to than the Valencia or Abu Dhabi circuit.
And of course, this year we’ve had the intriguing battle between Alonso and Vettel, the thrilling overtaking manoeuvres of Webber and Kubica, the firefighting heroics of Heikki Kovalainen (first time in my life I’ve ever seen an F1 driver put out his own fire), and topped off by the season-defining collision between Webber and Hamilton.
All in all, even though we’re a street circuit, I think we’ve ridden our luck thus far and presented 3 entertaining grand prix to the world.
And who says you can’t overtake on street circuits?
I believe we’ve had a fair bit of overtaking done last night on Turns 7 and 14.
Surprisingly, the Singapore Sling corner at Turn 10 produced almost no drama at all last night.
