iWitness in Singapore: Friday

Posted on Saturday 26 Sep 2009 and tagged with iwitness, singapore.

F1 Rocks host Jack Osborne (son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne) was trawling the F1 paddock in search of challenges this evening, and he might come to regret his conversation with Nico Rosberg. “F1 Rocks challenges you to train on the Formula Silverstone single-seater,” said Nico. “Then you’ve got to get round the track’s Stowe circuit in less than 50 seconds.” Go for it, Jack!

The Singapore Grand Prix might be a night race, but the halide lights that line the circuit are still very bright (3,000 lux). Or so Patrick Head, our Director of Engineering, would have us believe: he wore sunglasses throughout this evening’s second practice session. Let’s hope the team’s prospects in Sunday’s race are similarly bright.

Following the ‘crashgate’ scandal that has rocked F1 in recent weeks, the Marina Bay circuit no longer has a corner called Turn 17. When Romain Grosjean crashed at the exit of this bend midway through today’s first practice session, Nico Rosberg’s race engineer Tony Ross said over the radio: “Red flag, Grosjean’s off at Piquet corner”.

There were World Champions galore in the AT&T Williams hospitality area this evening. Three-time champion Jackie Stewart, 1996 champ Damon Hill and 1997 champ Jacques Villeneuve were all wedged in front of our Philips widescreen TV watching the practice sessions. You wish you were still racing, guys?