Gasoline adrenaline: Three nights of Grand Prix insanity in Singapore

MANILA, Philippines - It was all about great timing as TW Steel Watches decided to fly me to the 2011 Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. Held in the Marina Bay circuit from September 23rd -25th, the recent Grand Prix was meant to be chronicled from beginning to end. Here’s what I saw and experienced within the black and gold confines of the Lotus Renault GP camp.

Friday, Sept. 23

I arrived at the Changi Airport a little past 11 in the morning. As expected, dirt is unheard of here. In fact, I would liken Singapore’s streets to that of a museum’s interiors, only cleaner. I felt it all the way from the airport to InterContinental Singapore, where I was to stay for the next three nights. Formula One activities didn’t start until later that night; hence, the four to five hours of downtime, which was largely spent doing the most pretentious things, including sipping Darjeeling tea at the Olive Tree restaurant in a gray suit, with an unopened copy of The Economist in hand.

Big in oversized Grand Prix watches: As the Official Timing Partner to the Lotus Renault GP (LRGP) team, TW Steel made sure fans like myself got to strap this LRGP limited edition watch on their wrists during the races.

A power nap later, our hosts at TW Steel gave me and promo winner Janice Pacia a lift to our very own Lotus Renault GP suite at the Formula One Paddock Club within the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The exclusive club offered views directly over the race garages, pit lane, and start/finish straight — with innovative gourmet dishes served by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. It was an absolute thrill to catch the race cars zipping past like a blur despite it being just a dry-run session for the qualifying round the following night. “Driving at night, you notice the combination of light and shadow which takes some getting used to,” says Lotus Renault GP race driver Bruno Senna. It’s a challenge, yes, but the Brazilian racer hopes to “acclimatize early on and enjoy a different type of race.”

I also met Lotus Renault GP’s second racer, Vitaly “Vyborg Rocket” Petrov. The first Russian racer in all of F1, Petrov said he was ready to “nocturnal-ize” his schedule by sleeping during the day in order to prepare for the race. “The track consists of 23 very demanding corners but I’m looking forward to returning there and improving my performance,” hopes Petrov.

Formula for success: The 2011 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix was the ninth race won this season by 24-year-old German Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.

After signing autographs, Petrov invited us for a walk in the pit lane after dinner. I took photos of everything, from Lotus Renault GP’s mechanics to the track marshals nearby (one of whom nailed this totally priceless James “My ears can handle the metal” Hetfield look, complete with the mutton chop ‘stache, cigarette, mullet, and non-muffled ears), six-foot model types with their boyfriends, and anything that roared from the garage. It all felt like a sequel to Talladega Nights.

As expected once again, Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel bested the rest even during practice. Commentators mentioned the Red Bull driver was two tenths of a second faster than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton third fastest. Vettel now currently leads the contest by 112 points and if he gets 13 more points than Alonso this Sunday, he will easily secure the title again even with five more races to go. Because of loose curbing though, the session was reduced from 90 minutes to 60, requiring “bolt repairs.” A lot of ear muffling still took place, even from the racers themselves, as did a lot of walking, too, but a built-in massage spa at the Paddock Club Wellness Centre took care of passersby in foot, shoulder and back distress. Way to go, F1.

Saturday, Sept. 24

Passion pit stop: Lotus Renault GP’s Account Manager Luca Mezzocco gave me an exclusive tour of the pit lane and garage.

After lone-wolfing around Bugis, I was brought straight to the Paddock Club near the racetracks again, this time for the qualifying race. TW Steel’s PR manager Stuart Morrison made it possible for me to meet up with Luca Mezzocco, Lotus Renault GP’s account manager, who toured me through the garages in the pit lane.

Pitstop work in the garage, in toned-down geek lingo, happens when a racing vehicle stops by the pit lane for refueling, tire changes and other repairs. Anywhere from five to more than a dozen mechanics make up the pit crew with a few dozen more behind the scenes recording and analyzing the car’s temperature and other vital stats using a mainframe of computers. Data is then sent to and fro their headquarters to formulate a pit strategy. The great deal of bandwidth used here has required a budget of about $20,000 per race on average. Now just imagine all the torrent files you can download with such speed.

Senna of attention: Brazilian legend Aryton Senna’s nephew Bruno Senna is Lotus Renault GP’s go-to racer this season.

After schooling me on the parts of a steering wheel — in which the D button actually means “drink water” — Luca made sure I wasn’t going home without an authentic carbonara recipe from his hometown of Verona, Italy. The cat-adoring Italian even drew a grain of Italian rice on a piece of tissue to set risotto apart from Asian rice, much to my hipster pleasure. When I mentioned my Manila roots, Luca brought up his Filipino neighbor back in Oxford, who he proudly recommends as “the only person who can make my cat’s mouth open to eat.” Skills.

Concerts that night included Charice Pempengco, Rick Astley, Shakira, and others. Boy George put on quite the show by the river. Seen nodding to Do You Really Want To Hurt Me — despite myself — was Catherine O’Hara, Macauly Culkin’s mom in Home Alone (her and a bunch of blondes and bearded guys in turbans).

Beads of happy sweat later, I went back to the Renault suite to watch the qualifying session, which was eventually dominated by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel once again, thereby earning “pole position.” This means the German gets to start ahead of the other top six for tomorrow’s championship race: teammate Mark Webber, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi wasn’t as fortunate as he crashed to the wall during his first run in the second qualifying portion. Safe and unharmed, the Japanese driver plans to make amends to his team by fighting for more points for the next day.

Your kiss on his list: Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull kisses his fans though the camera

Sunday, Sept. 25

I returned to the Lotus Renault GP suite once again to watch the actual Grand Prix unfold in both grandstand seat and live LCD screen formats. Among the highlights of the night was veteran racer Michael “Schumy” Schumacher’s collision with Mexican racer Sergio Perez. Both were unhurt but it sent an airborne Schumy crashing into the barriers, eliminating him from the race and earning him an official reprimand.

As you know by now, Sebastian Vettel won the entire Singapore GP race — his ninth victory of the 2011 season — with Jenson Button and Mark Webber securing second and third place, respectively. At this point, only Button can challenge the German for the title now, should he win every remaining race this year in Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil. Nevertheless, Mumm champagne kept the winners wet and high-spirited. Vettel looked every bit of an expert in spraying champagne as he blasted everybody — while taking swigs from the huge green bottle itself. I guess nine victories ought to train you in handling this festive wine.

Chest-bumping Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington inside one of the elevators led to an impromptu photo. My high school self would’ve been proud.

Although it appears to be the Year of the Vettel, ruling out second placer Jenson Button for the title is still too early. Who knows how the next races will turn out? The circuit in Japan will surely pose new challenges to every team and you’d be a fool to miss out on such a sensual, surreal screech fest. Under TW Steel’s wing, I was privileged to find out what exactly made the Grand Prix grand and I hope to God you get to experience the very smell, feel, and sound of what it takes to be up there on the bleachers, ears muffled and jaws dropped.

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Be sure to catch my interview with 13-time Grand Prix champion David Coulthard as he talks about his limited edition TW Steel watch next week.

Steering wheel of fortune: Don’t forget that the D button means “drink water.”