If you're living in Singapore, Im sure you know what is the latest buzz that is currently happening in town now. No, Im not talking about next week's Hari Raya, but rather the distinguished sound of the fast and furious Formula 1 cars. This weekend, the country is currently hosting the latest race in the Formula 1 World Championship Race calendar for the first time ever on the streets of Marina Bay and it will also be the first night race in the sport's history. As an avid Formula 1 fan myself, I am very excited about it and Im sure even if you don't follow the sport closely, you are feeling just as excited as well.
When I first heard about the possibility that the race might happen in Singapore last year, I thought it was just another one of things that would never materialise, but of course I was wrong about it. So you can imagine how happy I was when I heard it will indeed happen, and even more exciting, it will be held under the dark clouds of the night. Another first about the race here is that it is the first ever street circuit race held in Asia, and that will be the topic that I would like to discuss about today. Now, street circuits isn't a particularly new thing in F1. Over the years, we have seen a lot of race being done on street circuits, with the most popular one being at the Monaco GP. Apart from Monaco GP, we have seen a lot of new and some old street circuits come and gone, either because there are plans for other street circuits race being held in other countries or because the country that used to host a street circuit race have now build a permanent race track that are more suitable for racing events. The question I guess is whether more street circuits is actually good for the sport. Just like the normal race track, a street circuit also have their positive and negative points. The negative side of it is that first of all, there is the safety concern. Being a street circuit, it means that the race will be much closer to the people and to the surroundings which could be dangerous, both for the drivers and the spectators. If we take the Singapore GP as an example, with it being held in the middle of the city, there are so many buildings and landmarks around the race track and should there be any accident, that would create a very dangerous situation despite having precaution measures such as the safety barriers.
Another concern about having the race on a street circuit is that the race might get boring for both the spectators and drivers alike as well. We have to bear in mind that the streets on the road was created only for the purpose of everyday transport, and not for high-speed cars such as the F1 cars. That is why you will see a lot of street circuits having a type tight and narrow tracks, such as the one in Monaco which means that there will be fewer opportunities for the drivers to overtake during the race, but it also means that there will be no room for error as far as the drivers is concerned. Just one mistake and you might be out of the race. So during a street circuit, you will not usually see a lot of overtaking action but most probably, incidents such as car crash. For some people, they like to see a race which has a lot of crashes while others overtaking. For me, I prefer to see overtaking action more than crashes. Its like watching football. You dont like to watch players get injured but rather, you will like it more if they do some tricks or score a goal. Even for the Singapore race, there is not much opportunities for overtaking, but that is how most of the street circuits layout are design for. The good thing about street circuits at least for the driver I supposed is that it punishes mistakes, like Ive said earlier, which will only help to improve their driving skills. The biggest winner in having a street circuit in my opinion is probably the country/cities hosting the event.
Let's take the Singapore GP for example. We are not a country that is particularly well known as a sports hub as compared to countries such as Paris or London. We have never organised a sports event of this magnitude, so getting the rights for the first-ever night race in the series is a big coup for the country and it will definitely bring in a lot of revenue for us. I heard that the race will bring an estimated $150 million into the economy and considering what the Government has paid for the event, which I believe is $90 million, it is definitely worth it. We should also remember that the race is being held in the middle of the city which means that there is entertainment close by after the event and it also means that the business in the city area will benefit from the race. Well that is what they are expecting but I heard that as a result of the road closures, most of the business there has reported a drop, but there was before the race had actually begin. Im sure things will start to pick up this weekend when the race reaches its climax. The hotels here were expected to be fully booked for during the whole period of the race, but that was not what I heard. Im not sure if this is true or not, but I heard most of the fans who come here to watch the race are staying in the hotels in JB instead, because it is much more cheaper quite understandably, considering the fact that they already had to pay huge sum of money to watch the race itself. Afterall, they are much more interested to watch the race than to have a look around of the country.
At the end of the day, the answer to the question on whether more street circuits are good or bad for the sport is debatable. It depends on how you look at it. As far as I'm concerned, more street circuits are good for the sport but to a certain extent. It would be boring to have the race being held at the permanent race tracks everytime. It is definitely good to bring something new to the sport, because let's be honest, watching the cars going past each other for almost 2 hours get sometimes be boring, so sometimes the backdrop to the race track can be a huge distraction from the cars, in a good way. At the same time, I also think that having the race on the streets are stunts to promote tourism in the city, but for the people who are living in the city that the race will be held for the first time ever like Singapore will be a welcome news Im sure. I guess you can put it as a win-win situation for all parties if you like. One thing for sure that we Singaporeans can be proud of is the fact that we are the first country in the world to hold a Formula 1 night race, and that is something that nobody can take away from us. I just hope the race on Sunday will be a spectacular one, and to demonstrate to the critics that street circuits can sometimes be entertaining to watch.
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