F1 Singapore Grand Prix: Lando gets pole position and a lizard gets a red flag

Leaping lizards! The 2024 F1 Singapore Grand Prix is on Sunday, September 22. Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions and the qualifying event featured competitive driving, but a practice session was red-flagged while race officials chased a lizard from the track. The three-stage qualifying session ended with McLaren’s Lando Norris in pole position for Sunday’s race.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton scored the second and third starting positions on the Grand Prix Grid, respectively. Verstappen leads in this season’s Driver Championship competition with 313 points, and Norris is his closest competitor with 254 points. Six-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton is in sixth place this season with 166 points.

Why a lizard was red-flagged

Animal sightings on F1 tracks are not unusual. Earlier this season, a groundhog ran across the track during the Montreal Grand Prix in June. The Monitor lizard that disrupted Saturday’s Free Practice 3 is native to Singapore — a Monitor lizard was also on the track during the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

According to the F1TV broadcasters, track officials classified the red flag stoppage as due to “slippery conditions.” Track marshalls attempted to catch the lizard with a plastic bag, but eventually, the lizard escaped by running off the track.

2024 F1 Driver Champion points

Going into the Singapore Grand Prix, the following are the points standings for the F1 World Driver Championships: