SINGAPORE—It seems like it was only recent memory but five years have already lapsed since Singapore GP Pte. Ltd. (SGP), the organizers for the Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One’s only night race, finished its maiden race in 2008. SGP had recently announced that it has exercised its option to extend the city state’s Formula One franchise contract to host the FIA Formula 1 World Championship for another five years until 2017. SGP’s Ong Beng Seng announced, “In 2012—already—we are celebrating five years of night racing. What better way to celebrate than to keep Marina Bay and Formula One together for another five years? We believe Formula One has added a new dimension to our city—but we feel this spectacular night race has also brought a different dimension to Grand Prix racing.” Ong is the driving force behind Singapore GP Pte. Ltd., who placed Singapore in the map by coming up with the world’s only “F1 night race.” The 5.073-km Marina Bay Street Circuit attracted over 200,000 spectators to witness an evolution in the sport of Formula One racing, testing their skills to the limit in its maiden race in 2008 in what motorsport aficionados consider as the pinnacle of motor racing.
Aside from shying away from Singapore’s equatorial heat on daytime, the cooler night air is also the preferred viewing time for majority of Formula One’s European viewership, with the television audience for Singapore’s round of the F1 World Championship in the last four years averaging about 100 million viewers. The 1,500 specially installed streetlights illuminate the treacherous circuit’s 23 curves and turns and give viewers a lot of racing action and spectacular photo ops, against Singapore’s brightly colored skyline.
Red Bull Team’s Sebastian Vettel, this year’s Singapore GP champion says: “It’s already a classic, I’m very happy—this is one of the best races to win; in terms of atmosphere and everything it’s a little bit special here. It’s a surprise in a way; we haven’t been racing here for 50 years but still it feels like a real classic already! It was great to win last year but to repeat this year is even greater.” McLaren Mercedes driver and 2009 World Champion Jenson Button says: “It’s a unique and special race. It was the first of its kind and Singapore has quickly become one of the best races on the calendar—it’s a race that everybody wants to attend.”
Not so furious anymore
While the locals do not seem to agree on that statement, the event’s sales figures seem to justify the five-year extension. Retail business owners and residents around the area still complained of the inconvenience of detours, concrete barriers, traffic jams and low retail sales as majority of the businesses around the area gravitated toward the retail and food kiosks inside the tightly secured race track venue. Except maybe for the hotels in the Lion City’s Marina Bay area that charged room rates that sometimes go for twice or even three times the regular rates for a room with a view of the street track. But here’s tip from William Herrera of Red Rock Travel, Manila’s most active travel agency promoting Formula One tour packages: “If you book early you definitely can get very reasonable rates, even on trackside hotels. With SGP’s recent announcement, we are ready to market next year’s Singapore GP already.”
Economic divide
Alex Au, a local commentator, laments that the prefabricated perimeter fencing and security outposts had made the area look like a mini-prison fortress. A lot of the locals seemingly do not appreciate F1 racing and reckon these barriers as a metaphor for the economic divide between the have-nots and the financially blessed. But even if a lot of F1’s ticket revenues are derived from the more expensive premium tickets ranging from access to private corporate suites with 5-star hotel catering and unlimited drinks to pit and paddock access, with the chance to see F1 racing royalty as well as local and international celebrities, enormous gate receipts were generated from walkabout tickets (race tickets without an assigned seat).
In the few days that led to the race weekend, organizers released additional tickets to combat secondary on-selling toward the last week leading to the race day as all its 84,317 general walkabout, grandstand and hospitality tickets for the three-day event had sold out. SGP made available a limited number of general tickets that it had held back from some sold-out categories for race day on September 23. Tickets were sold on a first come, first served basis and the maximum number of tickets that can be purchased in any transaction is only limited to four tickets. While there is no denying watching an F1 race is a bit pricey, the S$198 ticket price for a three-day pass seems to be affordable to the regular Singaporean.
“The impact is definitely there,” said Michael Yap, senior assistant manager of Kenny Rogers Roasters located at Suntec City Mall. Where Singapore’s Strait Times had him quoting that the eatery has seen a drop in diners from 400 on an average day to 300 diners on the race day weekend combined. “But business has definitely picked up as compared to previous years,” while Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck emphasized the need for engaging more Singaporeans to appreciate the race. He added: “We hope to see more creative and impactful ways of engaging the community, that is the biggest challenge—enticing Singaporeans to feel excited that the race is in town.”
Adding to the ticket revenues are the sponsorships, with local telecom giant Singtel owning the title sponsorship of this race. Singtel has been the title sponsor since 2008 and it has not been disclosed if Singtel has indeed signed up for the next season. Although no official figures are available, it has been estimated that the figures for each year is between S$10million and S$15million. While SGP has not given any final figures on gate receipts as of this writing, it seems that the fifth and last installment of the first Singapore GP race contract can be considered an astounding success.
Moves like Jagger
The SGP had also successfully tapped the ever-growing and much younger market by signing up with international pop sensation Katy Perry, who wore a race-inspired checkered one-piece suit and performed right after the end of the race at the Padang open field with spectacular onstage pyrotechnics and special effects. She performed live to some 50,000 spectators with her famous chart-topping hits like “Hot and Cold,” “Firework” and “California Girls.” The all-male band Maroon 5 led by Adam Levine performed last Saturday after the F1 and Ferrari Challenge qualifying rounds late evening on the second day of the race weekend. Aside from Perry and Maroon 5, Bananarama, the Pretenders and the Proclaimers also performed during the three-day race weekend that began last Friday. Asian pop star Jay Chou was also a hit even as he went onstage with a red hot Ferrari.