Should F1 hold more night races?
Jarno Trulli races in the dark - should F1 have more of this?
The first ever F1 race held at night went very well at Singapore. None of the pre-event concerns over the use of artificial light came to pass.
Bernie Ecclestone is keen for F1 to have more night races in the future. He’s urging the Japanese to hold their event as a night race. Malaysia had considered it, but it now seems to have persuaded Ecclestone that the cost would be too great.
Do you think F1 should hold more races at night?
I thought the spectacle of holding a race at night was brilliant and you can’t deny the race gave us some fantastic images (see here, here and here).
But as Checkpoint 10 points out that what’s good for Europe isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the world:
The Singapore race was run at night just to allow European viewers to watch the race at their usual time, which happens to be the ungodly hour of 5:00am Pacific time, or 4:30am if you want to watch the pre-race show. Does Bernie Ecclestone hate Californians?
There are other concerns about night racing yet to be resolved: can night races be run safely in the wet? And what about the environmental impact of powering all those lights?
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Eddie Irvine said on 30th September 2008, 20:32
NO NO NO!!!i am very dissapointed with what Ron said
Night races change the character of Formula 1 .I really enjoy watching F1 3pm drinking coffee.I don’t wanna this to change…
Eric M. said on 30th September 2008, 20:37
For future night races the cars should be equiped with lights, powered by KERS. Then we wouldn’t need those pricey lighting rigs. This would make it more fair for the GP organizers by putting the cost of the lighting onto the teams. ;)
But to answer the question of the article, which I didn’t really do in my first post, I don’t think we need more night races. I agree with those who say that the Singapore night race is enough. The spectacle was impressive, but not so much so that it needs to be replicated elsewhere. As others pointed out, night racing is expensive and wasteful. And potentially dangerous for the drivers.
GeorgeK said on 30th September 2008, 21:35
The Singapore night race will be terminated the first year it rains during the race, probably next year.
Imagine the difficulty of seeing through the cars spray, then compound it by the prismatic effects of overhead lighting. Mayhem and chaos. That would be applicable to any circuit anywhere.
AmericanTifosi said on 30th September 2008, 21:50
As a photographer, I think the cars look better under natural light. Keeping the Singapore GP the only night race would make it an exciting once a year event.
Oliver said on 30th September 2008, 22:08
Night racing, but no different from racing on an overcast day.
The track was so well lit that from the drivers perspective it didn’t register much that he was driving at night.
The circuit fencing made it very difficult for the marshals to get to the accident zones fast enough. Unlike in Monaco, where you just have the armcos and marshals standing directly behind them, in Singapore you had full track debris fencing, making the job of the marshals more difficult.
Ron is right, we can play with the concept for races everywhere. For sure not all races can be run at night. In fairness to him, I don’t believe he meant all night races, but rather playing about with the time of the races, but maybe having some races earlier in the day or more towards evenings.
Of all the tracks, F1 currently visits, only tracks like Canada, Monaco, Suzuka and Australia maybe even Valencia, have the layout that allows for easy fitting of flood lights. As for the others, it will make them ugly.
Manatcna said on 30th September 2008, 23:06
I’d prefer the races to be run in daylight.
The time of transmission doesn’t matter to me as I record all races and watch them (as live) in the evening when there are fewer distractions.
Loki said on 30th September 2008, 23:12
I’m in line with those who say no more night races for the many reasons already stated – although for me it’s mainly cost and environment issues….it was good to watch, but not super-fantastic. It probably served as more of an excercise of “look, it can be done”, congratulations to Singapore for pulling it off, but its not worth all the issues that were raised. It can be argued that all the issues that can be sorted should pave way for other, better, night races, but I think it should be left alone.
I definately wouldn’t look forward to more, and would be content if Singapore was the only night race. Just because F1 is inherently expensive, and not particularly environmentally friendly, doesn’t mean it should take the mick.
As for the timing issue, it doesn’t really matter to me. Even though Europe is the mainstay of F1, I don’t see why hosting countries should make arrangements that suit us – I find it a bit rude if that’s the way the contracts are negociated, but I don’t know for sure and I guess every country wants to host a GP event and will bend over in some way to get it.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 30th September 2008, 23:28
DG – I think Ron Dennis has missed the point entirely. The point of the night races was mainly TV scheduling for Europe.
Lustigson – My money’s on the Singapore Grand Prix weekend being more expensive to light than a few million homes in Europe. But I’d like to see the maths if anyone can be bothered!
Nick – You could be right there, but I think this is back to the same old problem of F1 cars not being able to follow each other closely.
Adrian – Perhaps a solution there is to plan next year’s weekends in advance? Here’s the provisional 2009 F1 calendar…
GeorgeK – Oh dear, I think that’s the first US Election 2008 reference on F1 Fanatic.
Chaz –
Careful or I’ll break into another chorus of “don’t blame the track, blame the rules“.
Loki –
I know what you mean. it’s an odd situation where the business imperative to expand into new territories and the business imperative of maximising your core audience collide.
On the environmental thing – Of course night races aren’t necessarily environmentally-unfriendly, it just depends where the power for the lights comes from. In this case, Singapore mainly uses gas-fired power stations, which I imagine chuck out a fair amount of carbon.
Wesley said on 30th September 2008, 23:40
Maybe the night race gave F1 a boost from the norm but,I would rather watch daytime races.One night race a year is more than enough for me….and I really feel the cost of powering all those lights on top of F1 costs already is a waste.
..and I agree with George K:
“The Singapore night race will be terminated the first year it rains during the race, probably next year.”
the limit said on 1st October 2008, 0:07
At the end of the day, the Singapore race was a huge success. Visually, it was stunning, and fortnately, had plenty of incidents unlike Valencia.
Personally, come what may, I think we are going to see more races held at night, and in more glamorous locations across the world, not just in Asia. The problem with hosting a global event like F1, is that not everybody is going to get to see a race at a conveniant hour, it is just not possible. However, we must all realise that the future of this sport is changing, evolving. That is the real danger concerning circuits like Silverstone and Magny Cours, they have not evolved with time. They resemble the F1 of the 1970s and 1980s, which is all well and good, but compared to other locations, they are showing their age.
I’m am all for keeping the classic circuits though, as much as possible, but in the end, there has to be a cut off point. A circuit like Suzuka for instance, would be mesmerising under floodlights, or Indianapolis too, because you would be seeing the cars at their maximum performance, and at night. Flavio Briatore summed it up in one sentence on Sunday by saying that ‘it is nicer to be at a circuit with more hotels than sheep’.
Journeyer said on 1st October 2008, 0:18
Trust me, the drivers will be OK in a wet night race. If anything, the drama it would create would probably help Singapore more. And I’m betting that if the race sees its fair share of incidents in the wet next year, but pushes through for 2010 and beyond anyway (which is what will happen), then many people will blame Bernie for going beyond common sense and just being greedy, when in fact such incidents could’ve happened in daytime races as well.
Ram said on 1st October 2008, 2:04
Spectacular it may be but night races will just do bad to everything else. That much electricity can be used for better purposes.
Steven Roy said on 1st October 2008, 2:28
I wish I shared your optimism Journeyer. From what I have seen a huge effort goes into the first race at any circuit an less goes in each year. I will be amazed if the marshalls are any better next year. I would disagree that the marshals were good enough this year. The accidents were not serious enough that anyone was injured but the marshals could not even handle them.
Deeza said on 1st October 2008, 5:05
The enviromental argument against night races is a joke.
If that is your mindset, why have Formula 1 races at all? Who needs petrol heads burning fuel and rubber like no tomorrow. Then… let’s look at Football. Why play games at night, just make every game of every league a daytime match! Where does it end? That only enviro friendly sports and activities should be indulged in? – Give me a break!!
The spectacle was great, something different, one is enough though and I think Singapore did a fantastic job – both the city and the race compliment eachother so well.
As an F1 Australian fan our race got pushed back to be a ‘twilight’ event to cater for European audiences, which I don’t mind, it was a compromise between Bernie and our Government instead of a straight night race.
Steven said on 1st October 2008, 8:14
Yes, I think Formula 1 can hold more night races, but I don’t consider the Singapore GP to be a real night race. The track was so completely lit up that it was practically a daytime race. That’s why I don’t think the Singapore GP was really such a big deal. It seems to me that it was made to run at night primarily to maximize the television audience, and that the “nighttime” was simply incidental.
If Formula 1 were serious about night racing, they would install headlamps to the front of the cars, put reflectors on the sides of the track, have fewer on-track lighting, and then we’d see who’s actually good at driving at night.