SINGAPORE: Once again, Singaporeans got an up-close experience of the power of a Formula One car at the Padang on Sunday. This is the second of such demonstration after Red Bull brought their car for the Chingay Parade earlier this year.

And showing the capabilities of the McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 was a man who twice lifted the F1 World Championship trophy, Mika Hakkinen.

The Finn hit about 150km to 180km in the car, over a 400-metre stretch of St Andrew's Road.

The performance was also part of the "Never Drink and Drive" campaign by Johnnie Walker, one of the sponsors of the F1 team. Hakkinen is the Global Responsible Drinking Ambassador of the campaign.

Still on the issue of safety, the former McLaren driver, was concerned about the lighting for the upcoming Singapore F1 night race.

Hakkinen said: "The organisers should not make any kind of compromises in lighting. They should think of every possible angle simply because Singapore is hosting the Grand Prix for the first time. The whole world is watching the first night race with high interest."

He added that drivers would find it harder to drive at night as they would be less physically alert.

Some McLaren technical crew witnessed the lighting demonstration conducted on Saturday by the Singapore race organisers.

Their latest trip to Singapore also helped them to gather valuable information about the Singapore circuit.

Neil Trundle, Special Projects, McLaren Racing, said: "We have taken the opportunity to take photos around the track and when we get back to England, we are going to put this on our simulator."


- CNA/so