What does the team behind the Singapore F1 race do beyond the three-day race weekend?

SINGAPORE: By 1am on Monday, the Padang's concert stages are dark and the roar of Formula 1 engines has faded. But on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, another race against the clock has just begun.

Mr Shiv Raj Panday and his technical crew have exactly four and a half hours to tear down parts of the track and reopen the roads to the public. By 5.30am, morning traffic will fill the very lanes where race cars hit speeds of over 300 km/h just hours earlier.

While the Singapore Grand Prix is a three-day spectacle for F1 teams and spectators, putting on the annual race is an unrelenting year-round operation by race promoter Singapore GP.

For the remaining 362 days of the year, the work for the next race begins right away and spans the gamut of sports event management, ranging from ticketing, planning crowd movements, marketing and monitoring global developments that could affect demand.

As one of 70 full-time staff at the firm, Mr Raj, a senior manager who oversees event facilities in the technical department, told CNA that his team conducts numerous feasibility studies throughout the year.

"We will take at least about two, three months to plan, before commencing set-up and build of the circuit,” he said.

Much effort is also spent exploring how to better utilise the limited space within the circuit park, said Mr Raj, who was working for one of the race’s contractors from 2010 to 2023 before joining Singapore GP.

This post-race routine has been the team's annual mission since the inaugural Singapore F1 race held at Marina Bay in 2008, except when the race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's race takes place from Oct 9 to Oct 11, the latest it has ever been held in a calendar year.

Singapore renewed