Another Formula One race, another Ferrari nozzle disaster. How hard must refuelling be? This latest cock-up cost Felipe Massa a grand prix, possibly a World Championship and probably all his Nectar points from that purchase. Unless he goes back with the receipt.

What they need, clearly, is someone in a booth with a Tannoy, who, at the first sign of any deviation from the accepted procedure, can announce, in a tone of weary contempt, “Press the button”, or “Replace the nozzle”. It works for the rest of us. How many times have you driven away with the hose still in the car after you have filled up? Not once, I would hazard.

Great television, though - not least the overhead shot of the car streaking up the pitlane with the hose flailing, in which Massa appeared to have been in an unfortunate high-speed collision with an elephant. And it wasn't as if we were short of things to think about at this, the first Formula One race under floodlights.

Most of the drivers, we were solemnly told, had elected to continue living on European time - breakfasting in the afternoon and so forth - so that the late start in Singapore would have the minimal impact on their normal race-day routines. This meant, apparently, that they were getting only four hours of daylight, which must have been the closest that Jenson Button will ever come to living like a student.

Taking a more casual approach, Kimi Raikkonen said: “I sleep when I feel like it and I wake up when I feel like it.” If his tone of voice was anything to go by, he hadn't felt like waking up during this particular chat with ITV. Still, Raikkonen appears to have become the first Formula One driver since Nigel Mansell to perfect the art of giving an interview while technically asleep, which could be handy if these night starts become the rage.

Inevitably, there was a lot of fuss and bluster about the “new challenges” presented by the lighting, but it was just so much water off a car's windscreen for anyone who attends the illuminated hot-rod meetings at Wimbledon Stadium. True, the environs of Plough Lane at night look a little less grand from the air than Singapore harbour, but the principle is the same: the hot dogs are cheaper and you won't hear anyone moaning pitifully about “glare” and the possibility of a few hard-to-read bumps in the track.

You seem to get brighter sparks for your money, though, in this new, high-wattage Formula One, and an extra layer of glamour. At one point, ITV's Steve Rider - his eerie smile, if anything, even eerier under the artificial lighting - broke off from a fascinating conversation about bumps with Mark Webber and cried out: “Shilpa Shetty, gracing the grid.” It was, indeed, the Bollywood actress. “Big Brother, wasn't it?' Rider went on. “I don't know,” Webber replied.

Fortunately, the ITV team have a man on board who can effortlessly leap the boundaries between motor sport and celebrity as Formula One demands - and will increasingly demand if it continues to take place in conditions that make people's jewellery look better.

Martin Brundle's first floodlit, pre-race grid-walk confirmed his status as not only one of the great analysts of his sport, but also one of the great television interviewers. Even Michael Parkinson in his pomp would have struggled to find questions for Massa, Tamara Ecclestone and the Prime Minister of Singapore, all within 30 seconds of one another and while running up a crowded street and wearing a pair of headphones the size of twin cauliflowers.

Credit to Brundle, too, for finding himself inadvertently in conversation with some corporate publicist or other, who asked him: “How do you think our logo looks in the lights?” Commendably resisting the urge to be sick, there and then, on this person's shoes, Brundle flatly replied: “I think it looks the same as it does in the daylight.” And with that, he was off down the pitlane and into the night.

There was a second successive defeat for Darren Gough at the hands of Anton du Beke in BBC One's Hole in the Wall. The fans are getting restless and beginning to wonder whether Gough has lost the green room, but when the right-shaped holes won't come, what can you do? (Answer: get knocked into a swimming pool.) Gough's team-mates in helmets and rubber romper suits this week were DJ Spoony and Nancy Sorrell. They were up against Vic Reeves and Vanessa Feltz. Score no additional points for recognising all these names from other, similar shows. In fact, every celebrity challenge show these days looks like a reunion party for another celebrity challenge show. I suppose that's what lends them their special poignancy.

The encouraging news is that Gough has developed a massive showbusiness smile for use at the top of the programme. Results must surely follow.