Despite what was expected to be a more muted Singapore Grand Prix this year, 260,000 tickets were sold. As usual, the Paddock Club was chock-full of well-heeled corporate types networking in the suites while sampling fare dished out by Michelin three-starred restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs. Given recent news, one can assume everyone invited into each of the hospitality suites has made it a point to declare or tick all the relevant compliance boxes. Meanwhile, Ong Beng Seng, managing director of Hotel Properties, was spotted smiling for the cameras and making small talk all around as he walked the playground he was instrumental in bringing in.
A random monitor lizard, strolling nonchalantly across the Formula One (F1) racetrack, helped remind eyes on this global spectacle that the city-state is not merely an LED-lit concrete jungle but one which commingles with wildlife. After Red Bull’s Max Verstappen called out the sighting, a race engineer quipped: “Maybe Godzilla had a kid.”
It wasn’t clear if the lizard threw him off but in a surprising turn of events, both Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez did not make it through to the next round after dominating the first 14 races of the season. At least they survived unscathed, unlike Lance Stroll, who crashed his Aston Martin spectacularly in the qualifying rounds. Teammate Fernando Alonso also had a race to forget after running over another lizard attempting the same stunt.
