By Cheryl Tay

I’ve always been intrigued by Formula One, not for the thrills from racing or the adrenalin from the high speeds, but because it’s a sport that just so fascinating.

The exclusivity of the sport itself is highly appealing – only about 20 drivers make it to the F1 grid each year (24 this year with 12 teams) – unlike other high-profiled sports like football for example, where there are so many leagues, so many teams and so many drivers to support.

Above and beyond the racing, F1 also has its lifestyle and entertainment aspects where parties, concerts and the like are aplenty.

So you can imagine how much I look forward to the F1 Singapore Grand Prix ever since it showed up at our doorstep in 2008.

This year I was exceptionally lucky to have the opportunity to interview eight F1 drivers, key F1 personalities such as Red Bull Racing’s team principal Christian Horner and chief technical officer Adrian Newey, and others like former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz and Amber Lounge founder and owner Sonia Irvine.

I unfortunately came down with fever and sore throat on Friday, but almost nothing could stop me from heading into the circuit.

Motorsports might be a very niche industry, but F1 is something that even the most uninterested person might be vaguely aware of.

While F1 raised the profile of motor racing greatly in Singapore, many still hold the mindset that motorsports is F1 and vice versa.

The grassroots community and the whole other range of motorsports hence get conveniently overlooked or sidelined. Hopefully this will change when our Changi Motorsports Hub gets built eventually.

But what I like most about F1 is how wholesome it is.

Sure, there are famous sporting individuals in golf and tennis, but these other sports are not as holistic as F1.

The drivers in F1 take most of the spotlight definitely, but there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to even put the driver and the car on the grid.

F1 is really a huge combined team effort that entails more than just the drivers.

The engineers, designers and technical officers work at researching, developing and building the cars; the commercial arm like marketing and public relations work on the communications, publicity and sponsorships of both team and drivers; the mechanics work hard at perfecting their pit stops during races; the logistics people have to ensure that the cars are transported safely and on time between venues; the team principal stands above all and macro-manages on a huge scale.

To quote Christian Horner, the youngest F1 team principal, he said: “Behind the scenes there is a lot of effort by the hundreds of engineers, technicians, and manufacturing guys. The driver is only one element and there has to be a huge support mechanism to ensure that the cars can deliver what the driver wants. The driver is one very important part of the team, but it’s not all about the driver.”

That’s what I enjoy about interviewing people; there’s always something to learn.

F1 is an extremely fast-paced world and it takes a lot to get there, but a lot more to stay in there.

It is a beautiful sport and it may have its own issues, but then again who doesn’t?

Like what Ferrari’s Felipe Massa said to me, “In F1, you need to be very strong as you’ll face many difficult times in your career, and you need to understand that these tough times will only serve to make you stronger.”