Several other prominent Formula One personalities were quoted as saying , Locally , Sunday 's F1 night race on the local MediaCorp TV Channel 5 drew more viewers than the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in the previous month , becoming the highest-rated programme for the year . The average ratings for Sunday 's race were 17.8 per cent , or 789,000 viewers , as compared to 17.3 per cent ( 765,000 viewers ) for the opening of the Beijing Games . The world 's inaugural F1 race under floodlights is reported to have been watched by an estimated global TV audience of about 400 million
opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
2008 Singapore Grand Prix