First taste of F1 in Singapore

We finally got the first real peek what to expect from the F1 race in September and it turned out to be a real magnet to the Singaporeans. Over 10,000 showed up Sunday afternoon to get their guaranteed adrenaline rush when two-time Formula One Champion Mika Häkkinen took to the streets in a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 car to launch Johnnie Walker’s latest responsible drinking campaign.
Hosted by celebrity sports presenter Jaime Yeo, Mika Häkkinen, the Global Responsible Drinking Ambassador, officially launched ‘Join the Pact’ an initiative by Johnnie Walker to remind members of the public to

‘Never Drink and Drive’.
The Finn thrilled the crowds with a series of stunts at the Padang, along St. Andrew Road, demonstrating the clear need to be in complete control when competing in world’s most-watched automotive race. Some of the audience might have already been in Malaysia for the Grand Prix but I’m sure the soon found out that there will be no comparison to the Singapore Grand Prix, since the F1 cars have to negotiate their way between high rise buildings, sharp bends and a very narrow Anderson Bridge which will extremely challenge the drivers.
Reporters and TV teams following every step Mika made.
After some sprints and turns in an AMG tuned Mercedes the McLaren pit crew finally pushed out the F1 car
Waiting for the "GO"
and off he zoomedEveryone had his camera or mobile ready to shoot.......
but sorry....... just missed it, maybe a little tooo fast. He already passed!
Coming back to the pit pushed in by the crew they finally got their shots
Another big difference to race track races will be the noise level when the roaring sound of the engines is reflected echo like by the buildings. This time it was only one car racing a short distance; imagine 20 of them for at least 90 minutes. At full throttle, each car's noise level could go up to 130 decibels (dB) - just shy of the 150 dB produced by a jumbo jet.

But back to the main purpose of this event: Häkkinen and Sponsor Johnny Walker tried to show consumers the importance of staying in control when you’re behind the wheel and to highlight the most important thing not only for yourself but also your family and all the other road users to NOT DRINK AND DRIVE. So be responsible leave your car behind and take public transport.

The aftermath of this spectacular event was another problem we all and especially the responsible government agencies have to be aware of is to fence off everything which should not be touched by the public. Some “ugly” Singaporean displayed the other side of such mass events: No explanation needed I assume...........
When we asked to use the walkways the reply was: “No lah cannot, so jammed, don’t want to wait!! None of your business!
But there were only some thousand and for the race in September about 90,000 are expected!