F1 Singapore 2008 – Super Race, Super Show!

The inaugural F1 night race has placed Singapore on the map as a world class location for high visibility global events! The practice runs, the qualifying round for the pole position and the grand finale were executed with the obvious finesse that is associated with any F1 event. The infrastructure was almost equally flawless in supporting the event in its first year in front of 130,000 on site audience and 500 million television viewers worldwide! Fantastic!

. Local outfits had the opportunity of doing brisk business & enjoyed brand visibility despite a rather gloomy macro economic environment. Congratulations go out to Singtel & everybody else associated with hosting the event! Following all the kudos, Singapore has to continue to seek excellence by taking pages from city circuit venues like Monaco, who have hosted similar races for more than 79 years.

. As a spectator at the event, I felt inadequacies in transportation, extended road blocks, seating coordination & food outlets while the drivers had to contend with bumpy road surfaces and soaring track temperatures! Mental notes need to be taken to fix these next year!

. Singapore & all of us also have many a lesson to learn from the races themselves. Team Ferrari’s debacle after taking 2 out of the 3 positions from the Pole in the finals - then getting totally knocked out in the final run! Lessons like team co-ordination & collaboration or the lack of it can ruin the best laid plans as Ferrari experienced during Filipe Masa’s fatal pit stop.

. Also a lesson that ‘Hope’ is a winner’s best friend from a despairing Alonso who stood with virtually no chance after the qualifiers but then eventually won the race on Sunday driving with grit & hope. A lesson that Winning is not necessarily brought about by excelling individually but also by seizing the opportunities created by the opponents’ shortcomings as experienced by Alonso who started off by virtually trailing the entire lineup.

. All in all an excellent demonstration of speed, discipline & collaboration and also the pitfalls and failures that so characterize us as human beings. Big win for Singapore and a big win for the human innovation and spirit!

. As the season wraps up with the final race in Brazil, I salute Louis Hamilton, the 2008 F1 Champion for his single minded focus, dedication and ability to act at the right time in the right way that saw him screech into the ultimate winner slot by securing a position in the first five at Sau Paolo in front of a bewildered Masa who did everything right in the final race and his legions of loyal Brazilian fans!

.