Monitor Lizard Spotted Crawling On F1 Singapore Track Near Civilian War Memorial
A fan who was watching the F1 Singapore Grand Prix (GP) practice session yesterday (15 Sep) was in for quite a surprise when a monitor lizard made a special appearance on the track.
Source: @elephantjumps on TikTok
Even more surprising were reports claiming that the reptiles ‘invaded’ the track on at least three occasions.
Due to these instances, the yellow flag used to signal danger had to be raised multiple times.
Monitor lizard crawls across F1 Singapore Track as cars whizz by
On Friday (15 Sep) evening, Ms Lee — who goes by @elephantjumps on TikTok — shared footage of a monitor lizard making its way across the F1 track.
@elephantjumps the way a random monitor lizard appeared in front of us during the practice session.. PLS!! 🥲😳🫠#singaporegp #singaporenightrace #formula1 #f1 ♬ (It Goes Like) Nanana – Edit – Peggy Gou
According to her, the encounter occurred at about 6.02pm near Turn 8 of the circuit, near the Civilian War Memorial.
In the video, a grey monitor lizard was seen slowly making its way across the F1 track.
Source: @elephantjumps on TikTok
As the lizard crossed the track, at least two cars whizzed by at high speed. Thankfully, they were successful in evading the four-legged reptile.
Source: @elephantjumps on TikTok
Speaking to MS News, Ms Lee estimated that it took the lizard about a minute to cross the track.
Even though marshals tried luring the creature out through a drain hole, the lizard apparently continued walking along the side of the path towards Turn 9.
Source: @elephantjumps on TikTok
The marshals were then seen tailing the lizard but on the safer side of the fence.
Image courtesy of Ms Lee
Red Bull team jokingly calls it Godzilla’s kid
As it turns out, there may have been more than one monitor lizard appearance that day.
According to a report on the Official F1 website, the yellow flag was raised three times during the practice sessions.
During one of the incidents that day, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was heard exclaiming, “There’s a lizard on the track!” on his radio.
Source: beIN SPORTS Asia on YouTube
In response, his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase quipped, “Maybe Godzilla had a kid.”
Source: beIN SPORTS Asia on YouTube
The joke was a reference to the 2016 Singapore GP, where Verstappen encountered a large monitor lizard, prompting his pit crew to make this hilarious remark:
Face-to-face with Godzilla then, mate?
Source: F1 on Facebook
Even though Verstappen managed to dodge the crossing lizard, that wasn’t the case for every driver.
In more tragic and sombre news, there were also reports that Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had run over a lizard during the practice session on Friday (15 Sep). It’s unclear if this was the same lizard that Ms Lee and Verstappen encountered.
Hopefully, the event coordinators will find a way to keep the animals safe throughout the F1 period.
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Featured image adapted from beIN SPORTS Asia on YouTube.
