SINGAPORE: Big lizards are a familiar sight in equatorial Singapore but they startled Red Bull’s double world champion Max Verstappen and other drivers after straying onto the Formula One racetrack during practice on Friday (Sep 15).
Yellow flags were waved to warn of the danger of hitting one of the creatures, which can grow as long as 3m (10 ft), as they languidly crossed the tarmac at dusk during the hour-long session.
“It’s going to be a brave marshal to go out and pick one of those up,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports television. “Hopefully they’ll be going to bed soon.”
Local fauna are not uncommon company, with drivers used to groundhogs and foxes on Canada’s Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. Malaysia, now no longer on the calendar, had an occasional problem with snakes.
Friday’s lizard incursion recalled the 2016 Singapore race when Verstappen was surprised on track by a big one that his engineer dubbed “Godzilla”.
“Ah. There’s a lizard again on the track. A smaller one this time,” he said over the team radio in Friday’s session.
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