RACING TIME

BUILDING A BILLION-DOLLAR BRAND LIKE FORMULA 1 REQUIRES A LOT OF IMAGINATION, FORTITUDE, AND STRONG SUPPORT FROM PARTNERS LIKE ROLEX. WE CATCH UP WITH THE BRAND, AND A ROLEX TESTIMONEE, AT THE 2024 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX.

- FARHAN SHAH

I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME the Formula 1 circus came to Singapore, where I live. The year was 2008, and I was in my final years of university. Three weeks before the streets became a racetrack, the authorities closed large swathes of Marina Bay to install floodlights, dividers, and everything else that would host the Singapore Grand Prix. For those three weeks, drivers cursed, traffic snarled, and residents who stayed or worked in that area had their everyday routines turned upside down. I remember thinking, “All these just to watch a few drivers race around the city for a weekend?”

Now, 17 years and 15 editions later, those three weeks have become five days of closure, such is Singapore’s efficiency. And I’m one of those 100,000 people making an almost annual pilgrimage to watch those drivers wrestle their machines for over 60 laps to complete one of the most physically onerous races on the calendar.