we were really lucky today. a friend passed to us two F1 grand prix qualifying round tickets. initial plan to watch it from another friend's office tower was soon abandoned, preferring the closer look =p


entered from gate 7 near marina square, we were greeted by white tents. first one was for bag checking and ticket scanning, followed by merchandisers' tents. survival kit packages were sold at $2, containing a poncho and a pair of earplugs.


the tickets gave us access to zone 3 and 4, at bay grandstand, in front of floating platform. the area was pretty crowded. the assigned seats were located at the second last row, but we still could sit on any vacant seats so we sat somewhere nearer to the front.


I am not an F1 fan, so I refreshed my memory again just before the race on the participant' names as well as the rule of qualifying round. so the 1 hour qualifying round is divided to 3 parts: first - the last 5 cars get eliminated, second - the last 5 cars get eliminated, third - the remaining 10 cars fight for the pole position for the actual race. there are a few minutes break between parts.


the sound was really deafening, and the earplugs helped a lot. as a spectator, I could not really make out what's happening as most of the time I could only see racing cars zooming on the track. watching the screen gave much bigger picture, but the text couldn't actually be seen clearly from the back of the grandstand.


so, all in all, to me watching a car race on TV is still more enjoyable, although being there in person gives a totally different experience - the atmosphere, and the crowd :)