Hamilton, devastated after hitting a groundhog at the Canadian GP

Lewis Hamilton Impacted by a Marmot at the Canadian Grand Prix

The driver Lewis Hamilton revealed that he was involved in an incident with a groundhog during the Canadian Grand Prix, expressing his regret for what happened. In the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, located on Notre-Dame Island in Montreal, it is common to find a large population of groundhogs. This type of incident has occurred in previous editions of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton commented that he didn’t notice the impact at the time, but was informed later. The incident, which apparently occurred around lap 12 of the race, caused damage to his car.

I had a good start, I kept my position, I was with the group and managing the tires well, so I was feeling optimistic. Then, and I didn’t see what happened, I found out that I hit a groundhog. It’s devastating, I love animals and it’s very, very sad. This has never happened to me here before.

Lewis Hamilton

The driver added that his car’s floor suffered damage, with a hole and the loss of all the strakes.

The damage to the underside of the car affected Hamilton’s performance, who dropped from fifth to seventh place, and then to sixth after Lando Norris’s retirement. Hamilton also mentioned problems with the brakes of his Ferrari during the 70-lap race, which made him feel lucky to be able to finish.

Given those circumstances and the brake issue we had mid-race, and that we probably stayed out too long after the first stop and came out behind traffic, it was one thing after another. So I’m happy to have been able to finish, especially with the brake issue I had. We really need an improvement and there are many things that need to change before we can fight at the front.

Lewis Hamilton

In 2007, Anthony Davidson, a Super Aguri driver, had to pit to change the front wing after hitting a groundhog, and in 2018, Romain Grosjean suffered significant damage to his Haas due to a similar incident during a practice session.