SINGAPORE – The heat was low on Thursday in Singapore, but today it feels like the traditional oven mixed with a humidity strong enough to steam a bowl of noodles. But that has not prevented the paddock in Singapore from brimming over with guests, announcements, media and other moments worth noting.
Just before the beginning of the first practice session, Jean Alesi, the former Formula One driver and winner of the Canadian Grand Prix of 1995, announced that he was going to race in the Indianapolis 500 next year. Alesi is 47 years old, was in Formula One for 12 years, and had a spectacular career despite only one victory — 32 podiums speak louder than that single race win. But Alesi happened to have driven at Ferrari at a bad time, in the early 90s, just before it became the winning machine it did for nearly a decade.
Alesi made his announcement in the hospitality area of the Lotus Renault GP team, as his involvement in the Indianapolis 500 will be linked to the use of a Lotus engine, although he has not yet announced which team he will drive for. Looking fresh, and in good condition, Alesi, a Frenchman with Sicilian roots, said that he was going to drive out of pure passion. He has raced here and there since leaving Formula One after the 2001 season, notably racing in the German touring car series, called DTM, and in a NASCAR-like series in the middle east, and last year at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in the GT category.
Brad Spurgeon for The New York TimesAdrian Sutil wears a Good Art Hollywood bracelet during a meeting with the media at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Adrian Sutil, a driver at the Force India team, was talking about his Medion Computer sponsor deepening its involvement in the series, and during his meeting with the media I noticed on his wrist a kind of strange-looking bracelet. Formula One, despite its past of sex scandals, cheating scandals, and politics, likes to portray a very clean and athletic sort of image. The bracelet, however, was composed of rather deadly looking skulls. I wondered if Adrian had a private life of Gothic parties and the black arts, so as I left I asked him about the bracelet.
“That’s another one of my sponsors,” he said, before telling me it was a Good Art Hollywood bracelet. Good Art Hollywood also provides jewelry to such people as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jon Bon Jovi. So I guess it is not so out of character after all, just another of those jet setting bling bling F1 sideshows.
That reminded me of one of the paddock people I know, a kind of “superfan,” named Moko. Moko is part of the Chrome Hearts family, which is a company that provides similar jewelry to people like Cher and Lenny Kravitz. Moko is one of the superfans that I have written about in one of my stories as a preview to the Singapore Grand Prix.
It is a big report this time, with six articles total. I wrote five, and Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, who is lives in Singapore, wrote the sixth, all about the F1 corporate hospitality.
My main feature is about driver fitness; the QA is with Jenson Button’s physiotherapist, Mike Collier; the team portrait is about Lotus Renault GP; and the Paddock Postcard, as usual, is this time about the current race location of Singapore.