When my mate, ESPN senior producer and anchor Glenn Connley, remarked that for some people Formula 1 was more a spectator sport than a sport-sport, he was spot-on.

And what a show Singapore put on.

The first ever Formula 1 night race was not only the most exciting, nailbiting, tension-filled race of the year, but also a very effective – albeit expensive – PR exercise for the city-state. Think about it: if you’d never visited or known anything about Singapore before the Singapore GP Season, Sunday’s race would surely have enticed you to drop by the Lion City: the glittering lights, the skyscrapers, the Singapore Flyer, slivers of cars zooming past the beautiful Supreme Court, the Padang, the Esplanade. Wow. Hopefully this will finally put to rest the misconception that Singapore is part of China. It’s not.

For the past year there’s been a lot of talk about the F1: whether it would work, what it would bring to the country, its residents, whether we were indeed the Monaco of the East etc…you could go on forever. To me it was simple – it’s Tuesday and I’m still suffering from F1 fever. What does this mean? That I had a blast, and thus the F1 must be a good thing for the country.

The ‘festive’ mood was helped by the various F1-related parties. Thursday’s Red Bull event at Café Del Mar certainly did not disappoint. The music rocked, the vodka Red Bulls flowed, eye-catching bikini babes flounced about; even four drivers showed up – Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and David Coulthard, and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel and Sébastien Bourdais, eye candy and TV cameras in tow. Impressive. Oh yes, and there were fireworks too.

The next night it was off to the press suite. While it took over an hour to get there – thanks to a clueless cab driver and a lack of signage (note to the organisers: signs are cheap to erect) – all was forgiven, when I chanced upon a guide who escorted me all the way to the box. And I definitely forgot about my hour of woe when I caught Renault’s (and eventual champ) Fernando Alonso whipping round the first turn at full speed. There’s something about Formula 1 machinery and the sound of internal combustion engines at their peak that overwhelms you with this childish sense of excitement. It’s as if Christmas came early.

Next up, it was time to get wet at the the much-discusssed Chivas Live event. I’ve had any, many happy memories dancing to the sounds of featured artist Chicane, and was really looking forward to it. And looking down at the sea of deliriously happy faces in the ‘swimming pool’ I was not alone. In fact, I spied many familiar party-hardy faces of yesteryear dancing up a storm, oblivious to the fact that they were getting soaked. Maybe it was all the Chivas Green Tea they drank… Regardless, kudos to the Chivas folks for coming up with the most original and enjoyable party concept and venue seen this year. Finally.

I’d planned to catch Saturday’s action from the swish seats of Raffles Grandstand, but at the very last minute passed the tickets to an out-of-town colleague. Ah well, at least he enjoyed it. Correction: raved about it. Oh well, what did it matter? Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was at pole position, not Lewis Hamilton. The writing seemed to be on the wall…or was it?

Armed with Walkabout tickets, sensible footwear and earplugs, it was time to hit the track. Thanks to Friday’s hour-long recce with a map-savvy friend, we had plotted a little route of our very own: first, the Padang to watch the start on the big-screen TV. Then, the corner of Gate 4, smack-bang in front of the Supreme Court for the first few laps. Before a leisurely stroll along the Marina Square promenade area near Gate 7 to catch the drivers negotiating one of the tighter turns of the race, crossing over to the front of DXO to watch the cars whizz by in full audiovisual glory, before re-routing back to the Padang to watch the last few laps, and of course mishaps.

I was almost relieved to see the chequered flag wave Alonso through; this race was a comedy of errors. The safety car came out; far too many times, there were a number of rookie-like incidents. Ferrari’s Massa managed to zoom off with the petrol hose still attached, and later fellow team-mate Räikkönen crashed while running fifth with just three laps remaining. Talk about bad luck, especially for Ferrari.

Not so for Singapore. This is one race people are going to talk about for along, long time to come. And talk they will, until it’s time for the next Singapore GP.

Only 364 more days to go…