F1 News

Lizard disrupts first free practice; 'Godzilla had a kid?'

15 September 2023 at 11:17
Last update 15 September 2023 at 11:40

After half an hour in the first free practice session, a yellow flag suddenly appeared in the second sector. Just like a few years ago, there was a lizard on the track. Again, it was Max Verstappen who noticed the animal first. "Ah. There's a lizard on the track again," the Dutchman said over the team radio.

His engineer Gianpiero Lambiase responded in his calm tone: "Maybe Godzilla had a kid" referring to 2016, when in a similar case, the pair gave a lizard the nickname: Godzilla. Verstappen immediately responded to GP's thought and said it was a logical answer.

After the drivers had carefully driven around the lizard and the animal had left the track, green flag conditions resumed. Baby Gozilla reportedly suffered no trauma from his adventure on an F1 circuit.