SAMU'T SARI & SUNDRY: October 2008

Last September 28, 2008, Singapore etched itself into the history books for staging the first night race ever in the history of Formula 1 Grand Prix. Not only did it pull a spectacular show, not to mention that the race itself is enough to make everybody salivate, it was able to showcase to the world on how beautiful this Garden city really is. I watched the action Live with my camera on hand and ear plugs (with a discounted ticket - paying only SG$600 for a SG$1,400 priced ticket), but when I watched the replay on the TV, the Singapore skyline was really amazing.

From an amateur photographer's perspective, it was a mixture of excitement and trepidation for me. I was excited to be able to finally watch the real cars pass by at an average of 300km/h and yet I was apprehensive whether I will be able to get good shots of them. 61 laps of 20 cars oozing is obviously more than enough to get at least one good shot, but I had to remember that I still had the show to catch and never wanting to miss even a bit of the action. True enough, the race didn't fail to provide enough dramas. Starting with the pit stop/fuel nozzle incident for Felipe Massa of Ferrari, to the accidents involving the reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, Nelson Piquet and Adrian Sutil, to the presence of 2 safety cars, and to the shoot-to-the-top victory of Fernando Alonzo, they all added to my first real-circuit experience of F1.

I waited for this race with MacLaren as my team-to-root, and I wasn't totally disappointed with the result. Of course, I wished that Lewis Hamilton will win, but his finishing third as compared to his Brazilian rival Massa's 13th position for this year's world Championship is good enough to give him more points for the Championship race.

And with Fuji (Japan) and Shanghai (China) races are over - with Lewis winning the China leg - I can almost smell the victory for Lewis and setting yet another world record for being the youngest and first Black to win the Championship. But it won't be an easy task for him because Massa will have the home-circuit advantage when they take the last race in Brazil in two weeks time. Lewis just needs at least a fifth position to clinch the victory. But I won't mind a starting pole and a podium finish for him.

The F1 Fever is really still on.... I can't wait for the staging of Singtel Singapore Grand Prix 2009. Trust me, nothing beats the real thing. If you get the chance to watch it next year, come and you will not be disappointed.....guaranteed!

Here are some of the pics I have taken. Not very fantastic but I think they are good enough for my satisfaction. Anyway, I still have next year's race to practise on.