INQUIRER Sports

SINGAPORE--``Is that Paris Hilton?” OUR guide asked as a fashionable blonde woman glided up an escalator in Ion Orchard, Singapore’s latest high-end shopping destination. The question stirred surreptitious glances from everyone within earshot: Was it really Ms Hilton?

Hotels were fully booked, restaurant reservations had to be confirmed and reconfirmed, rumors of celebrity sightings filled the air, checkered black-and-white flags lined the streets. So this is Singapore on speed. The Formula 1 Grand Prix fever, that is.

The only night race on a street circuit, the Singapore F1 Grand Prix, only on its second year, has already attracted 18 million visitors and celebrities. For weeks Madonna was rumored to be popping up; even fashionistas were anticipating Marc Jacobs’ visit.

Art

While F1 Grand Prix means hot cars, even hotter racers, events leading to the race are just as overwhelming. Art enthusiasts trooped to the Opera Gallery at Ion Orchard for the exhibit of Brazilian pop artist Romero Britto, famous for his zestful, graffiti-like take on famous subjects such as Michael Jackson, Rockefeller, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Princess Diana and iconic brands such as Absolut Vodka, Chanel and even Bentley Motors.

Another breathtaking art event was the stainless-steel sculpture of Indonesian artist Pintor Sirait, who spent months molding steel into F1 race cars using Asian symbols and expressions in Chinese characters and Arabic scripts. An F1 race car, riddled with bullets from a .38 caliber, carries the message of the plight of democracy in the world.

Celebrity photographer and environmentalist Sebastian Copeland held an exhibit featuring the glaciers of Antarctica to help raise global warming awareness. He spoke in the “Quest for Sustainability” conference.

Want to sample over 1,000 flavors of gourmet tea? A tea-tasting event was held at the new TWG Tea Salon & Boutique at Ion, featuring exclusive tea blends, limited-edition and seasonal blends, and exquisite tea accessories.

If daytime is for the arts and culture, the evening is for adrenaline rush. The nightscape turned into an energy field of parties at Quays, as racers practiced on the street circuit. The screeching noise, a most welcome sound by residents and visitors, could be heard even from up the 70th-floor helipad of Singapore’s tallest skyscraper and hotel, the Swissotel Stamford.

Rock concert

Thousands trooped to “F1 Rocks,” the concert performances spread over three nights at the Fort Canning Park. Attracting an audience of close to 10,000 people each night, “F1 Rocks” featured No Doubt, N*E*R*D, ZZ Top, Simple Minds, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce.

Beyonce, the pièce de résistance of “F1 Rocks,” sent the audience dancing on their feet. Performing two hours after the electrifying party of the Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce brought a 13-woman band and eight backup dancers and instantly captivated her audience. (Lindsay Lohan was reportedly booed the night before, when she went onstage to film TV spots. Lohan was there to support her DJ friend Samantha Ronson.)

The crème de la crème of the weekend, however, commanded an estimated live audience of 240,000 fans around the Marina Bay race circuit for the F1 Grand Prix. It was an evening dominated by McLaren-Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton dominated the tracks with his 9.6-second lead over Toyota’s Timo Glock.

Hamilton’s girlfriend, Pussycat Dolls’ lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, who sat next to Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am during the race, was given her share of camera exposure. Model Jessica Michibata, girlfriend of Brawn GP racer Jenson Button, was also there.

An after-race party at the circuit grandstand saw performances from the Back Street Boys, Chaka Khan, John Digweed and Wicked Aura Batucada.

Everyone was on stargazing mode.

“Is that Paris Hilton?” our guide asked. As if on cue, the blonde girl on the escalator turned toward us. She was beautiful, but she was not Hilton. Besides, she wasn’t skinny enough.

But with or without Hilton, Singapore offered visitors enough glitz and glam to keep them wanting for more for the next evening race.