A familiar face greeted the Max Verstappen during FP1 at the Singapore GP. The famous monitor lizards made their way onto the track as the Red Bull driver aims for his 11th win in a row, extending the record once held by Sebastian Vettel. It won’t be as straightforward as Ferrari is looking quick.
Yellow Flags in an Uninterrupted Session
Free Practice 1 at the Singapore GP was expected to be chaotic with some rain expected. However, the session went pretty well as the drivers were all well-behaved. However, we did get some unexpected chaos during the second half of the session.
There were yellow flags for no apparent reason. As the commentators wondered what it was for, the cameras panned to a lizard on track. Singapore is known for its monitor lizards, and one of them came by for a visit to the Singapore GP. There were 2 further appearances of a lizard on track during the session. We can’t say if it was the same one.
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Godzilla’s Kid
At the Singapore GP, Max Verstappen was alert as ever to the hazard on track. He informed his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase (GP) about the lizard on the track again, and that it was a smaller one. GP quipped back: “Maybe Godzilla had a kid”.
This was a reference to another incident Max Verstappen had involving a lizard. Back in 2016, during a session at the Singapore GP itself, the Red Bull driver encountered another lizard. GP, back then, had quipped, “Face-to-face with Godzilla”.
Ferrari looking Quick
Both Ferrari cars looked extremely quick and agile during the first practice session at the Singapore GP. They topped the timing sheets as Max Verstappen settled for third place.
Everyone expects the Red Bull to pull away as the weekend develops, but the fight looked very close between Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren.
Also Read: Singapore GP: Chaos expected as rain predicted through the race weekend
Max Verstappen will be looking to right a few wrongs as he comes to a track where he hasn’t won. He will want to win on a track that was one of the favourites of Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel.