Here is an account of my encounter with the Crazy Rich Asians in Paddock Club of Singapore Grand Prix 2018.
I'm very thankful to have received an invitation to it!
Paddock Club is the most expensive among all the ticketing categories.
After watching Crazy Rich Asians movie, I was looking forward to indulge myself and to experience how the Crazy Asians will be spending their F1 nights in Singapore.
Some information about the ticket categories
The Grandstands is not the most premium, the following will give you an idea how you can choose to enjoy and pamper yourself in the near future.
1) Formula Paddock Club - SGD8,888 (approx)
2) Sky suite - Price ???
3) Twenty 3 (New) - Price ???
4) The Green Room - Price ???
5) Lounge @ Turn 3 - Price ???
6) Grandstand at different location - from SGD1,888 (for 2019 early bird booking)
Paddock Club package includes
Access to all Zones within the Circuit Park and entertainment stages
Fully air-conditioned Paddock Club™ suite and private outdoor grandstand
Arrival canapés and four-course dinner menu
Daily Pit Lane walks at designated time
Direct access to the Paddock Club entrance via dedicated vehicles
Dedicated parking lots
World-class specialty restaurants
Rockpool by Neil Perry
NOBU
COMO Cuisine in partnership with CULINA
Stockton Hong Kong
Itsuki Izakaya
Tarte by Cheryl Koh
Free-flow Champagne, fine wines and spirits, beers and soft drinks
Exclusive entertainment programme
Getting ready
If you are expecting to drink, don't drive, although there were designated carparks allocated for every ticket holder, I took the train instead. After arriving at the Stadium station, within a short walk, immediately the privileged treatment began. This was the welcome transit area where guests were chauffeured to the Paddock Club.
Security check as usual in Singapore. Before getting into my limo van, they served us with iced water and chilled wet luxurious napkin.
That's the limo van, let's hop on.
The interior was a little too glittery for my liking... Among were a pair of expats and a mother with her child.
The whole stretch of road was closed for it's guests. Nice! From Stadium to the venue, it was about 7 minutes.
Here we arrived at the main entrance of the Paddock Club!
After the main entrance, it is the lounge area where guests were served with free-flow of champagne, fine wines and spirits, beers and soft drinks.
Cheers!
There were photo point everywhere with our iconic SIA ladies...
They have amazing strength, able to hold on to these poses and smiles since 2:30pm and throughout the day. Great job ladies!
Let me give you an orientation of the whole place. At the center of this club, there is this open area with a stage. There will be performances intermittently throughout the day. Surrounding were world-class specialty restaurants, activities corners and massage - all complimentary or already paid for.
The most popular restaurants were NOBU and Rockpool. There were queues outside them. Guess what? The Crazy Rich Asians also have to queue for their turn and their food. When there are too many CRA come together, into one common space, everyone have to wait.
Above is the Broadwalk Garden Bar and inside looks like this...
Walking through the bar, one will get to the other side, the viewing platform. If you like to view it at the ground level, this is the best view in comfort. If it gets a little too warm outside, chill-out in the bar and resume back to the platform again.
This is how close the view is. The driver is ready to launch out after from it's pit stop. You must play the following video, is it Hamilton?
Only in Paddock club, you will see outdoor air-con like these, colored to blend in with it's background. Keeping all it's guests cool and comfortable. Singapore weather during the day is about 31 to 34 degree celsius throughout the year.
Let me take you to the different Paddock suites. They were all located on the second and third floor.
Second floor suites:
Third floor suites:
A red carpet setting, leading to the different suites:
A view from inside the suites. All these Paddock suites were situation right above the pit stop. You can either see the crew in action or the race itself in comfort with unlimited scrumptious food and drinks. If you are serious about the race, you can either get to the bar platform area or the sky deck on the 4th floor.
The CRA, some were really into this sport, some to spend time with family members and friends and others for business.
Getting ready for dinner...
But before dinner, we had the opportunity to do the pit lane walk. This is the time to explore the pit stop area. The CRA were mostly excited and they were on the queue under the partial hot sun, waiting to enter into the pit stop.
After some wait, we were finally getting there...
Look at how excited these CRA were... honestly they were not that crazy.
Visiting my favorite team "Mercedes"
One of the crew from Ferrari was nice enough to let me sneak in...
Experiencing walking on the race track itself. This is where the driver filter back to the race track after pit stock.
Dinner in the different suites were very much the same, serving mostly international buffet. They were of a very good standard, but not distinctive enough. There were many specialty restaurants, but let me narrow down to the most popular, NOBU. There were selection of small bites of Japanese cuisines and wide range of sake and Japanese whiskey, free to pick-up and order from the bar. I got myself a white oak whiskey, smooth and flavourful.
A view at night within the club.
There were a few fringe activities, among all, I like best is the fan calligraphy. I requested for the master for an extra fan for my wife. My wife deserved it, she was helping me to stand-in with some work that night while I was here.
Feeling tired after a long walk, there was spa to ease that tension away. The guests can either have a 10 minutes of bamboo back massage, foot massage and hand paraffin. Guess what is my choice?
Another photo point with the ladies, but this time I was really fortunate. I was the only few that evening to have the opportunity to hold the actual 2017 champion trophy! My acquaintance after seeing that picture of mine, wanted to have the same shot, but too late, the trophy was already safely kept away.
Definitely a good experience to be in the environment of CRA, but the night party continues. Exiting the club, next was to head off to the concert at the Padang. This was where all the ticket holder meets and enjoy the big stage performance together.
Is Singapore's Crazy Rich Asians that crazy? Not at all. They mostly looks neat and sharp, but ordinary. I got to know a gentleman in his 50s. His family has a listed company in Singapore and a few other businesses. A humble man where he also shared with me his earlier struggles and how he is now giving back to the society.
I thouroughly enjoyed myself, this was a night to remember!