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Briton charged for F1 track intrusion
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A BRITISH national has appeared in court in Singapore charged with endangering the personal safety of drivers by walking across the track during last weekend’s floodlit Formula One Grand Prix.
Court documents yesterday identified the 27-year-old man as Yogvitam Pravin Dhokia.
Drivers in Sunday’s race were stunned to see the track intruder as they came around a corner, with camera footage later showing him emerging through a gap in the fence onto the racing line.
He then crossed the track and wandered alongside the barriers as cars sped past.
The safety car was deployed before the man, clad in shorts, climbed back over a barrier between turns 13 and 14.
“He must have had a couple of beers,” Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff told reporters afterwards. “I was alarmed because that can cause a massive accident and it’s dangerous for the drivers.”
Police later said they had arrested a 27-year-old man but did not give his identity.
Fans are positioned close to the track in some parts of the street circuit, most of which is enclosed by walls and tall metal fencing.
The formal charge sheet said Dhokia had committed an “act so rashly as to endanger the personal safety of the drivers involved in the race, to wit, by crossing the race track while the race is on-going.”
It added that he faced a possible jail sentence of up to six months and/or a maximum fine of 2,500 Singapore dollars (US$1,765).
“We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Singapore and we stand ready to provide consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the British High Commission said.
Local media reported Dhokia, whose passport was confiscated, had been offered bail of S$15,000 but told the court he could not pay it.
“I’m not working currently. I spent all my savings on tickets. I don’t really have that kind of money,” Channel News Asia quoted him as telling District Judge Ronald Gwee.
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