The world's attention will be centred on the inaugural SingTel Singapore Grand Prix (SGP) this weekend, and many companies have jumped on the Formula One bandwagon for more eyeballs and branding mileage.

Title sponsor SingTel has created a downloadable mobile phone racing game, brought in life-sized racing simulators and even commissioned a reality TV series.

Its creativity reflects how sponsors have pulled out all the stops to be associated with a slice of history and share the global spotlight. This is the first-ever F1 night race in the world and the first on a street circuit in Asia.

Apart from the tremendous exposure the brands can get, the historical and technological aspects of the race are just as significant to them.

Mercedes-Benz, for example, is focusing on the company's more than 100 years of heritage in motor racing and has an ongoing exhibition at its showroom.

Its SL 63 AMG is the Official F1 Safety Car that will lead the warm-up rounds around the circuit. The SL 63 is available for purchase on request.

Chief executive officer of Audemars Piguet (AP) South-East Asia Oliviero Bottinelli "did not hesitate a second" when asked to make the SGP commemorative timepieces, and has spent more than a million dollars on the project.

"We are marking history here," he says. "We made only 250 pieces, which were all sold a few months back. We could have made four times the amount of pieces after all the enquiries we've got, but we kept it exclusive. I want people to talk about it not only for the product itself but for what it represents."

For the launch of the Singapore Grand Prix watch on Thursday, it will fly in DJs, magicians and dancers, race drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli, and actress Michelle Yeoh.

Oris, also a Swiss watchmaker, has been an F1 supporter since the 1970s and the official partner of the AT&T Williams F1 team since 2003. It is leveraging on the SGP to launch its Williams F1 Team collection with a simulator race challenge at Millenia Walk. The three fastest contestants will have a go against team driver Nico Rosberg tomorrow and stand to win a timepiece from its motorsport collection.

Dell provides the notebooks for BMW Sauber F1 team's engineers to download customised programs into the race car's computer and servers for post-race analysis.

DHL launched a two-month campaign with 250 DHL-F1 branded taxis. This is "to showcase its extensive experience in racing and logistics know-how", says Mr Herbert Vongpusanachai, general manager of DHL Express Singapore.

The company has been managing the freight for the F1 teams for all the races and official test runs around the world since 2004. It includes everything from race cars to spare parts and fuel.

And in its first foray into the F1, YHI Corporation set aside US$6 million (S$8.6 million) for the 2008 to 2010 seasons to partner Team Scuderia Toro Rosso and supply its cars with the Advanti Racing Wheels.

Says Mr Kenny Foo, marketing manager of Advanti Racing, YHI: "Being in F1 raises the eyebrows of our competitors. It's a big moral boost for our staff and gives them the confidence to market our products to the next level.

"The exposure will be fantastic, with more than 300 million TV viewers. We expect an increase in brand awareness. Advanti Racing's network has also grown over the past nine months from about 30 countries to 59 countries now."