Singapore GP countdown: Scuderia Toro Rosso's Singapore Grand Prixview

The first year we went to Singapore, everyone, including you media types, was worried about not getting enough sleep. Why, we are not sure, given that journalists are often spotted getting back to the hotels when the team personnel are leaving for the track: a special mention here to the English hack who did not check in to his Monaco hotel this year until his final night in the Principality!

After two years coming here, it’s clear that the night time schedule means everyone is getting far too much sleep and ruining the “rock ‘n roll” reputation of Formula 1. We believe too many of you are adhering to the old saying, “early to bed early to rise” which means you’ll never meet any interesting people that way. To paraphrase a famous Beatles song, “wake up, get out of bed, drag a comb across your head."

Singapore has plenty to offer and here are a few tips for things you can do rather than shouting at the hotel chambermaids to go away. The Singapore Zoo is the only one we have heard of that offers a Night Time Safari and great fun it is too, because so many species in the animal kingdom are creatures of the night and will actually be happy to put on a show for you, rather than their daytime performance, when they lie around doing nothing much in particular, apart from grooming inappropriate parts of their body.

Go to the Ritz Carlton on Raffles Avenue as they have an amazing art collection, featuring works from Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Henry Moore. Just opened in Singapore is a Universal Studios theme park, so why not get up early and go and visit the “Lost World” full of strange creatures and dinosaurs (much like the F1 paddock) or the “Enchanted Airways” which features stars and talking donkeys (just like an F1 press conference) and the “Land of Far Far Away” (which is where our families think we live all the time.)

Or if you don’t want to move too far from the safety of the Media Centre, there’s always the nearby Singapore Flyer ferris wheel. A trip in this allows you to experience what it’s like to be a grand prix driver, because you go round in circles and end up where you started.

Sleep is overrated and people who say they slept like a baby have probably never had one. We all know insomnia is a nightmare, so get out of bed before your body changes shape and you discover you have become Half Man-Half Mattress. And remember, the amount of sleep required by most people is five minutes more.

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