Gripping and Wildly Unpredictable, Singapore Shines in the Lights

Singapore's maiden grand prix on the demanding Marina Park circuit served up a kaleidoscope of entertainment, with the spotlights around the track supplemented by car after car throwing up cascades of sparks from their titanium skid plates as they slammed and shimmered over the bumps.

Yet this innovative event did not simply deliver a gripping and wildly unpredictable motor race, it may well signal a path towards a new generation of grands prix held under lights in order to maximize the sport's commercial potential.

It is unlikely to trigger great enthusiasm for such races in Europe. The notion of Nürburgring in the early spring, a cool enough venue at midday at that time of the year, running an evening race under lights is fanciful in the extreme. But in formula one's most emergent business area, the Pacific rim, it is easy to imagine the commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, coaxing China, Japan and even perhaps India, if it should join the championship schedule, to follow the example of Singapore.

For the moment Ecclestone confined himself to praising the new event. "I am completely satisfied with the job the organizers have done in every way, shape and form," he said. "They have done a simply magic job with the track here and there are no complaints at all. When I originally suggested the notion of grand prix racing under lights people had thought I had gone mad, but the whole Singapore experience has raised the standards for everybody."

Those sentiments were reflected by the team principals Ron Dennis, of McLaren, and Frank Williams.

"Clearly this race has given formula one a very powerful [promotional] tool and a lot of analysis will clearly now be done to establish which is commercially the best time to have the races shown on television," said Dennis. "The race has probably gone a long way to establishing Singapore as a destination city rather than a place that you simply pass through. It is not just a new experience but a big step in the history of grand prix racing.

"Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring the race to Europe at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular.

"With a bit of thought you can imagine we will see firework displays, all sorts of things that we can use now to glamorize F1 more."

Williams is convinced that the Singapore race has a chance of replacing Monaco as the most prestigious race on the formula one calendar. "It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of formula one," he said. "That is the most accurate thing to say. They have great weather, a very good track and the grandstands packed. I think there is a lot of enthusiasm out there."

For Fernando Alonso his first win since he triumphed for McLaren in the 2007 Italian grand prix at Monza went a long way towards restoring his image after a troubled season as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate last year. He gained particular satisfaction from the achievement because all had looked lost after a fuel-system problem during Saturday's qualifying session dropped him to 15th place on the starting grid.

"This is a fantastic result," said the 2005 and 2006 world champion. "It was my first podium of the season, my first victory, and I'm very happy although I think it will take several days for me to realize what we have achieved.

"Winning a grand prix here just seemed to be impossible because we missed our chance yesterday in qualifying, but we were very fortunate today and it's a superb result for our team. We chose a very aggressive strategy and we had a bit of luck, but we had the pace and the car was fantastic throughout the weekend."

As for Nico Rosberg, there were those who felt that the 10-second stop-go penalty he was given for entering the pit lane before it was declared open was alleviated because the officials waited 10 laps before signaling him to take his punishment. During that period the Williams driver built up a 20-second lead, which meant that he dropped only to third after coming into the pits for the penalty.

Rosberg put the team's excellent showing down to a touch of reluctant theatre on the part of Frank Williams. Having accepted a bet with Jackie Stewart that he would wear a pair of the Scot's tartan trousers at a race in 2008 in the event of his cars scoring a top-three finish during the course of the year, Williams had been carrying the obligation ever since Rosberg finished third in Melbourne in the opening race of the year. He finally got round to wearing them in Singapore yesterday and the young German driver obliged with his second place.

"I think Frank will have to wear his lucky tartan trousers again," quipped Rosberg. Oh that formula one success should be so straightforward to achieve.