Singapore will have to decide in three months whether to have Formula One (F1) motor racing here.

That is, if it wants to host the world's most glamorous spectator sport next year, said a senior executive from Hotel Properties, the group believed to have bagged the rights to hold F1 here.

"We have to decide by April," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "After that, it'll be too late."

He said final plans are being drawn up to have Singapore become the 18th circuit in the 2008 season.

There are now 17 races in the F1 calendar. If all goes well, Singapore will be slotted between Belgium and Japan, some time in September.

"We are doing all the paperwork now. There's a lot of paperwork to do," said the top executive, who did not confirm or deny that Hotel Properties - controlled by tycoon Ong Beng Seng - has secured the rights.

This would be Mr Ong's second formal attempt to bring F1 to Singapore. In 1991, he secured the deal, but the plan did not take off because he lost the proposed site for the race track to a country club project.

Laguna National Golf & Country Club now sits on that site.

"It was a blessing in disguise," said the executive, one of Mr Ong's key men.

"If we had built that track, it would have become a white elephant."

He said the current proposal was for a street circuit, and for the race to be conducted at night - a first for F1.

"A street race is more exciting. And it brings the race to the people. For a fixed circuit, you have to bring the people to the race."

Sounding quite excited, he said the spin-offs for Singapore would be 'tremendous'.

"How many satay stalls do you have to set up overseas to promote Singapore? And this will be far bigger than IMF," he said, referring to the mega event last year when 16,000 delegates came to Singapore for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank governors meeting.

But what benefits will it have for Hotel Properties, which will have to cough up US$35 million (S$54 million) or so to host the event?

"We have hotels. Do you know how much a hotel room costs in Monte Carlo during F1 week? $17,000 for four nights," the executive said.

Hotel Properties owns hotels like Four Seasons, Hilton and Le Meridien. It also owns shopping mall The Forum, and food and beverage outlets like Hard Rock Cafe.

F1 enthusiasts welcome the prospect of a Singapore Grand Prix.

Porsche Asia-Pacific managing director Christer Ekberg said: "Singapore has the infrastructure that lends itself to a street race, probably more than any other city in the world. If Monte Carlo can do it, we can."

He said an F1 race here would be 'absolutely fantastic'. "This will be bigger than the IRs," he said, referring to the two multi-billion-dollar integrated resorts Singapore is building.

Although the sight of Ferrari and McLaren F1 cars hurtling past the Padang seems likely, nothing is cast in stone yet.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry said it has not received any 'firm proposal' for an F1 race here.

The last time Singapore had a Grand Prix was in the 1960s, on a street circuit in Upper Thomson.