By Terrence Voon and Lin Xinyi

THE fans are back in force for Formula One's second night race, but there was precious little action for the shopping malls as the cars took to the asphalt for the first time last night at the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix.

Empty shops and deserted aisles were the order of the day at Marina Square and Suntec City, as shoppers stayed away in lieu of the road closures and high-octane action outside.

Said Leonard Chau, manager of the Sony Vaio outlet at Suntec City: "We have a promotion for the F1 period, but it's not helping much because people are not coming into the store.

"There are tourists coming in - not to buy, but to ask for directions."

With some shops reporting drops in sales by as much as half, some have already resigned themselves to a bleak weekend on the retail front.

"Business has dropped by half compared to a normal Friday," lamented Nelson Ng, who runs the Rockport store at Marina Square. "Most people come here for F1 and they don't want to be carrying shopping bags to the race."

In sharp contrast, the cash registers were ringing inside the circuit park as thousands thronged downtown Singapore to witness the second edition of the sport's only night race.

Merchandise stores and food and beverage outlets say their takings are comparable to last year, as fans snapped up team souvenirs and burgers with equal gusto. This, despite organisers selling 95 per cent of the 249,000 tickets this year, whereas last year's allotment of 300,000 was sold out.

The surprise hot ticket items? Renault shirts and replica cars.

"It's been good for the first day," said a member of the sales staff at an official F1 merchandise store. "Ferrari items are the most popular, but Renault products are doing surprisingly well."