How very ironic that Paul Newman has died over the course of the Singapore GP weekend.

Among the many superb films he made there was Somebody Up The Likes Me, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand Luke, Hud, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict and Road to Perdition.

Remembering some of those excellent films, one also thinks of a couple that bring to mind this weekend's race, The Hustler (not the long anticipated Bernie Ecclestone biopic), Absence of Overtaking, sorry, Malice and The Colour of Money.

Newman became a major fan of motor racing after playing alongside Robert Wagner in the 1969 movie Winning, the movie star going on to enjoy a fairly successful racing career and forming the legendary Newman Haas Racing Team with which many drivers, including the Andrettis, Cristiano da Matta, Sebastien Bourdais and Nigel Mansell enjoyed Champ Car success.

Other than managing to get Mario Andretti swearing and banging his fist in anger - having raised the dreaded subject of 'Our Nige' - the only other, oh so tenuous, link to Mr Newman that Pitpass Editor Chris Balfe can recall is that he once saw the actor filming in Leather Lane market for the 1973 film The MacKintosh Man. Editor Balfe was accompanied by his grandmother who remarked that Newman was a "beautiful man", her only other movie star experience being the day Sidney Poitier, on his way to do a street shoot for To Sir With Love, gave her a "beautiful smile".

Anyway, back to the Colour of Money. The fact is that while many are falling over themselves, telling us that Singapore is the greatest thing to happen to F1, and possibly the future of the sport, we remain unconvinced. And this is before the race gets underway.

While the organizers are said to be delighted with the event and the publicity it generates for the city-state, one has to point out that we have seen little of Singapore this weekend and certainly not enough to warrant even the shortest of visits.

Skipping over the environmental issues, such as the revelation that the lighting system was recently run for one hundred hours non-stop simply as a test, there is the fact that despite all the sycophancy, the drivers and teams admit that there is much wrong with this circuit. OK, much of it can be fixed, but how was the pitlane exit and entry signed off by the FIA in the first place, and don't the GPDA have any input?

And finally, as we look ahead to today's race in this "magnificent location", let's remember what we're really here for, racing. Sadly, things don't look too promising. "There are virtually no overtaking opportunities," says Nick Heidfeld. "Okay, there are some spots where you can certainly pass an opponent who has made a mistake - but even that won't be easy." While Lewis Hamilton adds; "You won't be able to overtake here. I don't think so, not if you're as quick as the guy in front. For the quicker cars, if there's not really much time difference… I was behind David Coulthard, DC's car. I was quite a bit quicker but I couldn't get close enough."

Indeed, asked if we might be looking at another Valencia, the McLaren driver shrugged and said; "most likely". God strewth!