SINGAPORE — Ahead of the official Singapore Grand Prix opening and practice sessions on Friday (Sept 15), Formula One (F1) drivers and entertainment acts alike were making their rounds in town.
On the heels of last year’s highest-ever attendance for the three-day event, the 2023 edition features a revised circuit layout for drivers and two new grandstands for spectators.
TODAY takes a look at what the drivers and artistes were up to before the race weekend.
DRIVERS MEET FANS
Though the Singapore Grand Prix schedule included meet-and-greet sessions with F1 drivers on Friday, some racing teams had also made their own plans to greet fans.
From Williams Racing, Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon both turned up for individual question-and-answer sessions at the team’s fan zone in Raffles City mall on Wednesday afternoon, signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.
Also on Thursday, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez — last year’s race winner in Singapore — made a public appearance at the Tag Heuer Motorsports Experience pop-up at Ion Orchard mall at 5pm.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was scheduled to appear at Chijmes, while Mercedes’ George Russell was to head to 313 Somerset mall.
NORRIS LOSES HIS ‘FLUFFY CURLS’
Norris even made time to get a haircut, though some fans went on social media to bemoan the loss of “those fluffy curls”.
However, as a McLaren post on Instagram cheekily put it, he apparently still has “the hoodie on in the Singapore heat”.
Days before the race, Norris and Russell competed in a different sport, getting in a few rounds of night tennis.
RUSSELL MAKES A WRONG TURN
Apart from meeting fans and rivals, it seemed as if Russell had been busy driving — a little bit too much.
In a fresh video posted on Mercedes’ Instagram on Thursday, the driver jokingly tells of how a three-minute drive to his hotel turned into a much longer journey.
“Our hotel is this hotel here, the Ritz-Carlton… It’s a three-minute drive away,” he says. “We took the wrong turning and ended up on the road to Malaysia — and arrived 45 minutes later.
“So, uh… it’s a life lesson. One small mistake, big consequences,” he adds.
In the comments, fans joked: “Just tell us that you wanted to race at Sepang as well.”
The Sepang International Circuit has been the home of Grand Prix motorcycle racing (MotoGP) in Malaysia since 1999.
TSUNODA, VERSTAPPEN AND PEREZ TRY DIFFERENT TRAILS
In The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, some fans spotted Scuderia Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda moonlighting as a boatman on the indoor canal’s Sampan Rides.
One TikTok user joked: “Alpha Tauri didn’t pay him enough, huh.”
Another asked if this was the Yuki Tsunoda Experience that was being sold.
On the Marina Bay Sands’ website, the hotel lists both a “Yuki Tsunoda Experience Package” and a “Zhou Guanyu Experience Package” for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Each package includes a hotel stay, Sky Suite passes and limited-edition merchandise of each driver, as well as access to an invitation-only event on Sept 13 and exclusive invitations to race-themed events.
@formula1officialteamerch Slightly random but a good surprise none the less 🛶 #f1 #yukitsunoda #marinabaysands #sampanride #f1merch ♬ AnySoundEffects Thinking Meme – Any Sound Effects