A large lizard disrupted the final practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday as Formula One marshals attempted to capture the wandering reptile. Drivers observed with amusement as the monitor lizard, a common sight in Singapore, suddenly accelerated during the chase after leisurely strolling onto the circuit shortly after the daylight session began. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, accompanied by his teammate Lance Stroll who was the only other driver on the track at that moment, was alerted to the lizard’s presence in the final sector. “We are informed that the track is clear, but please keep an eye out for the lizard,” Alonso was advised via team radio. “No, it’s right in the middle of the track,” the two-time world champion responded as he navigated around it and returned to the pit lane.
Sky television commentator David Croft humorously named the lizard Larry, likening its determined gait to that of Aston Martin’s team owner, Lawrence Stroll. The brief interruption was soon resolved, and practice resumed. Lizards have frequently posed a challenge at the grand prix, with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase famously dubbing a particularly large lizard “Godzilla” in 2016. When a smaller lizard appeared during last year’s practice, Lambiase quipped, “Perhaps Godzilla had a child.” According to Singapore’s National Parks’ Board, monitor lizards are generally shy unless cornered. They are also diurnal, meaning they are active during the day, which is a relief for the organizers of the night race.
