Singapore was definitely this season’s biggest awaited F1 race. It was a race that made history in the racing industry as it was the first ever held night race in Formula 1 and the first street race in Asia. The following is an excerpt from the Singapore GP website.
The inaugural 2008 FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix will take place on 28 September 2008 on a street circuit of public roads around the Marina Bay area. The race will be the first held at night in FORMULA 1™ history and is the first street race in Asia.
With a well illuminated race track (1,500 lighting projectors), powered by 12 twin power generators, the race was a visual feast for any Formula 1 buff.
The race started off with plenty of aggression and Felipe Massa pulled away leading the field from pole position. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton followed hot on the heels of Massa with Raikkonen trailing third.
All went well until Piquet has an accident in round 14, hitting the wall and crashing his Renault. Out came the safety car and everything started to fall apart from then onwards. Kubica who was running in 4th place at this stage and Rosberg both pitted before the pit lane was officially opened. Then in the 17th lap Massa’s car misinformed him to pull away while in the pit lane, which resulted in him knocking over a mechanic. This incident went from bad to worse as fuel was spilling everywhere because the hose was actually still attached to the car while he pulled away. Apparently his green light indicated it was safe to do so when in fact it wasn’t.
With Kubica, Rosber and Massa all receiving penalties for their actions as well as plenty of misfortunes happening on the track at this stage, the field was clear for Alonso to power ahead into first.
It is safe to say that the first night race was indeed a nail biting performance and spectators would have truly gotten their money’s worth.
- Fernando Alonso (Renault)
- Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
- Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
The race result put McLaren into the group lead for the season and they now lead by 1 point before Ferrari.
Singapore Property Market
While the boys with toys were battling it all out, the Singapore property market is on a decline. The first reports of trouble on the horizon could be seen back in January this year. But according to latest news reports, it seems this is now being true.The Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) has already made plans to help the struggling property market in Singapore with their 2009 budget.
Some of these initiatives are to:
- Reduce stamp duty percentages
- Raising the low cost housing ceiling from the current RM 42,000 to RM 60,000
- A discount cap of 5% for bumiputra buyers
In June Singapore witnessed massive inflation numbers with the CPI inflation figure standing at 7.5%.
With increased rents and construction costs unaffordable for many, some developers have even decided to turn into landlords themselves.
August alone saw falls of 64% in private home sales, which brings the overall figures to 81% within the last 12 months.
This has experts worried and they predict that Singapore property will actually depreciate within the next few months. Some say the figures range from 3% to 8%.
The desperate situation shows clearly in numbers. Back in July 2008 a total number of 890 units were sold in the city while in August this figure declined to 320. Compared to this, back in August 2007 during the peak of the property boom in Singapore over 1,700 units were sold.
These kind of figures clearly indicate there is indeed stagnancy in the market right now and property buyers are perhaps best advised to wait and see what the next few months will bring.
Perhaps the 11 year price cycle will bring new hope to investors as it is due to peak in 2010.
