Masters of the Race

MANILA, Philippines - Call me a lapsed F1 fanatic. My interest in Formula 1 was formed in the era of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, the succeeding generation of Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill, Rubens Barichello, Jacques Villeneuve, and of course, the legendary Michael Schumacher.

Then something happened: Shumy retired and with him, my insatiable appetite for everything Formula 1. As any current F1 follower can tell you, it is a very dynamic form of motorsport where it seems every year a new technology (or two) is changing the game. From the format of the engine, the tires, the fuel, to the various driver aids that may or may not be allowed in a given year, it’s easy to get left behind.

It seems just a few months ago that there was a big deal about “diffusers”, but now the new and sexy things are that newfangled Drag Reduction System (DRS) and Kinetic Energy Return System (KERS). Heck, until someone explained to me why the pit stops are so insanely fast these days (less than 4 seconds) I wouldn’t have realized refueling wasn’t allowed anymore!

So that’s why I haven’t seen any flaming cars anymore.

Given all this, my stock knowledge about Formula One coming into the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix might as well have been limited to knowing that the car has four tires and one driver. And it took some discreet researching on my part to realize that, not only would my very first F1 trip be as part of the Red Bull Racing Paddock Club, it would also happen to have the reigning points leader Sebastian Vettel in its stable.

How cool is that?

I wasn’t 4 hours back in Manila from a grueling trip home from LA (via Minneapolis) and I was re-packing my suitcase for the quick hop to Singapore, jetlag be damned.

Our hosts for this trip were TOTAL, official fuel supplier to the Red Bull Racing team among others. Now, TOTAL may not be the most prolific fuel station in the Philippines but I like the way they do business.

TOTAL is understandably proud of its success in the grueling world of motorsports, with victories not only in Formula One but also in World Rally Championships, Le Mans, and GT racing. They have this “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” approach to motorsports and marketing their consumer products, and if the consumer appreciates the connection then so much the better.

As the official fuel and lubricants partner of Red Bull Racing and Lotus Renault GP for F1, TOTAL is having a very good year. With the ban on mid-race refueling, the challenge has been to create an engine and fuel that is not only powerful but also efficient enough for a single tank to last the entire race. Something to think about when you have a V8 delivering upwards of 720 horsepower at around 18,000 rpm! The lubricant used must also stand up to the demands of racing as each engine (there are only 8 allowed per driver this season) must last several races.

The Singapore Grand Prix is hailed as the crown jewel of the Formula One empire, with the most number of turns (23), held at night thanks to the awesome power of hundreds of floodlamps, and on city streets, no less. The “race track” is a marvel of engineering, utilizing as it does several of Singapore’s main boulevards. It seems the entire government workforce of Singapore is also mobilized for the event to coordinate both pedestrian and motorized traffic so that life can still go on during race week when the roads are already closed. The latter involves some extremely creative use of overpasses and underground walkways. How complicated? Well, navigating this labyrinthine network to get from our hotel to the paddocks got us sufficiently lost on Practice Night to call it a bust!

Still, Singapore on F1 week is electric. It seems everybody in town has a ticket to the race, and the sound of the cars racing through the streets is exhilarating; like a thousand hornets buzzing past you at 300 km/h, such that the noise resonates even inside hotels and malls.

On Qualifying Night, our group was treated to “Pit Lane Walk”, where fans could view the team garages and take as many pictures as they wanted from just a few feet away. The drivers, however, were nowhere to be seen as they doubtless huddled somewhere for their plan of attack. The mechanics, on the other hand, went about their tasks with almost military precision and oblivious to the horde of spectators just a few feet away.

Vettel, of course, was practically omnipotent in Qualifying. After Alonso, Webber, Button et al posted ever faster times, the young German demolished everyone by half a second to gain that all-important pole position. After qualifying session was over, Ernst Wanten – TOTAL Philippines’ President and Managing Director – took us to the Lotus Renault garage for a quick look at their mobile fuel and lubricant lab. After every session, several lubricant samples are taken from each car to give the engineers clues as to what’s going on inside the cars. Residue and trace alloys that find their way into the lubes might be crucial indicators of drivetrain wear, giving the mechanics crucial information on how to further tune their cars.

On Race Night, everything was nearly perfect for Red Bull. Vettel led from start to finish with perfectly timed tire changes. Webber’s 2nd position start was lost by the first turn as Button and Alonso ratcheted up the intensity from the get-go. Schumacher livened up things from the middle of the pack by inexplicably driving his left wing under Sergio Perez’s rear tire. Lewis Hamilton similarly made things interesting for Felipe Massa by puncturing the Italian’s tire, thus creating a verbal post-race tussle.

In the final few laps of the race, Button made a hard charge to close the gap on Vettel, shaving off a second every lap as the German seemingly cruised to the finish, perhaps preserving his rapidly deteriorating tires. Still, it wasn’t enough as Vettel finished nearly 2 seconds ahead in a masterful display of Jedi-like precision and calmness. Not a bad race at all for someone like me to catch that F1 fever again!

After finishing in the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix the week after, Sebastian Vettel practically wrapped up the 2011 season as Formula One’s youngest double champion. And with Red Bull bagging the Manufacturer’s Championship over McLaren and Ferrari, they are the new masters of this race. As for TOTAL, allying themselves with some very potent names in motorsport can’t help but boost their standing with consumers everywhere.