THIS is the incredible moment the Singapore GP was invaded by a giant LIZARD – forcing champ Max Verstappen to swerve around “Godzilla’s kid.”
But the reptile paid the ultimate price as he was eventually run over by Aston Martin star Fernando Alonso, leaving fans in tears.
Verstappen and Alonso were caught off guard as Formula One stars warmed up for this weekend’s race in Southeast Asia.
With temperatures in the low 30s, many exotics animals are thriving in Singapore’s humid climate.
And one cheeky heat-loving creature appeared to want a close-up encounter with Verstappen and Co.
The huge reptile, believed to be a monitor lizard, left pundits and drivers stunned as it sauntered across the track during Friday’s practice THREE times.
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The beast took little notice of the zooming cars while crossing the tarmac.
And one racer who had a close encounter with the lizard was none other than Red Bull superstar Verstappen.
It wasn’t his first face-off with one of the creatures in Singapore, with Verstappen facing off against a lizard in 2016.
But this time the double world champ was forced to swerve to avoid making contact while turning a corner, forcing yellow flags to be deployed.
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Verstappen exclaimed on the Red Bull team radio: “There’s a lizard again on the track! A smaller one this time.”
His team responded: “Ok understood. Maybe Godzilla had a kid.”
Verstappen laughed: “That makes sense!”
Williams star George Russell also encountered the lizard as he zoomed past, declaring it was the second one he’d seen that day.
He said on his team radio: “Another lizard but a different one this time!”
Fans certainly found the incident hilarious, with one saying: “Them lizards love that race.”
Another declared: “Best seat in the house.”
One added: “Who let him onto the track?”
However, it later emerged the innocent lizard had been squished by Spanish star Alonso as the Aston Martin man zoomed around at 70mph.
One heartbroken fan said: “Aint no way, did someone actually run over a lizard.”
Another declared: “The lizard got run over? I am heartbroken.”
One added: “Finding out there was a lizard on track and someone run him over…”
As far as practice went, it was a one-two for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc finished 0.078 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz.
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Verstappen came third, with Lando Norris fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth.
And all eyes will be on tomorrow’s qualifying round to see if any more cheeky lizards make an appearance.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
