Ferrari duo set early Singapore pace as lizards disrupt first practice session

Championship leader Max Verstappen finished third.

Fri, 15 Sep, 2023 - 12:18

Philip Duncan

Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in an opening practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix disrupted by three lizards.

Leclerc ended the one-hour running at the Marina Bay circuit just 0.078 seconds clear of team-mate Carlos Sainz, with championship leader Max Verstappen third.

Lando Norris finished fourth for McLaren, 0.172 sec back, while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took fifth and sixth respectively for Mercedes.

📻 Max: “There’s a lizard again on the track. It’s a smaller one this time!”

📻 GP: “Okay understood. Maybe Godzilla had a kid”

😂🤣#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/xngLSJ648r
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2023

But the session was disturbed on several occasions when a lizard walked across the three-mile street venue.

Verstappen was the first to report the reptile at Turn 9 midway through the running.

“There is a lizard on track again,” said the Red Bull driver, who had a similar encounter here back in 2016. “It is a smaller one this time.”

Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied: “Maybe Godzilla has had a kid.”

Our face when there’s a lizard on track 🦎#SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/iAeHv9QLSl
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 15, 2023

There was a second interruption, and then a third, as yellow flags were deployed.

“Another lizard, but a different one this time,” said Russell.

Verstappen, who is chasing an 11th straight victory on his waltz to a third world championship, warned on Thursday that Red Bull could be vulnerable at this unique street venue.