Sharing love for F1 but not same EPL clubs

Jeffrey De Costa and his wife Serene Chan share a fierce football rivalry. He is a Manchester United fan and she supports "anything but United".

However, when it comes to motor racing, they ride for the same team.

De Costa and Chan, who are both fans of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, have been volunteer race officials at the Singapore Grand Prix for nine and 10 years respectively.

"We volunteer for the passion of it. There's nothing that comes close to being near the cars on the trackside," said Chan, a 38-year-old polytechnic lecturer.

She became a volunteer in 2009 when she was approached by a former colleague and has returned every year to be a flag or communication marshal.

Her strong interest for motorsports was stoked since the glory days of F1 greats Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna.

De Costa, 46, who is in the logistics industry, has always had a passion for cars.

Influenced by his wife, he volunteered as a flag marshal for four years before switching to be a scrutineer, checking cars for safety and eligibility.

Each volunteer is expected to clock at least 24 hours of training, conducted over weekends starting from May.

To balance their passion, they have had to make sacrifices.

The couple have two kids - Eva, 9, and Evan, 5 - and have to coordinate weekend training sessions to ensure that the children are taken care of. De Costa would often hand the kids over to Chan after she completes her session, before he starts on his.

On event days, Chan's parents would take care of the kids.

Fuelled by her love for the sport, she has stayed the course and even expanded her volunteer work to other F1 circuits.

Chan, who returned from the Australian GP on Monday, has forked out about $2,000 of her own money to volunteer in Melbourne for the third time.

This is also common with other volunteer officials, said Janette Tan, the Singapore GP's senior manager for race operations. She added that 10 Singaporeans will be volunteering at the British GP in July.

Tan, who manages about 950 officials, shared that the Singapore GP also welcomes about 100 volunteers from places such as Monaco and the United States.

Ranging from 18 to 68 years old, the volunteers come from diverse backgrounds. They include an orthopaedic surgeon, a pilot and several CEOs.

"At Singapore GP, we emphasise heavily on volunteer management with the objective of a high retention rate every year," said Tan, 40.

"Apart from motor-racing, we also bond over food. We meet for prata on Fridays and sometimes for steamboat on Sundays."

De Costa and Chan, who will continue their GP run from Sept 20-22, have racked up unusual memories from being track-side.

In 2012, De Costa was just 20 metres away when German Michael Schumacher collided with Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, and was hit by flying debris. Both drivers emerged unhurt.

Chan, on the other hand, almost hit world champion Lewis Hamilton on the head in 2016.

With a laugh, she said: "During a practice session, Hamilton had driven to the run-off area. I wasn't aware that he was reversing towards me and I almost hit him with my flag pole."

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BE A VOLUNTEER AT SINGAPORE GP

The Singapore Grand Prix will host their first Race Officials' Open House on Saturday at the F1 Pit Building, from 11am to 3pm to recruit volunteers.

There are about 250 positions available as observers, medical, track, flag and fire marshals.

Interested applicants must be at least 18 years old and submit an application via http://raceofficials.singaporegp.sg by April 1, 12 noon.