Incident at the Canadian Grand Prix
During a practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli secured a strong performance, finishing ahead of George Russell in a Mercedes one-two. However, the session was disrupted when Alex Albon’s Williams collided with a groundhog on the exit of turn seven.
The incident occurred when Albon was unable to avoid the animal, causing his car to slide down the barriers for some distance on the straight that follows the corner. The collision resulted in significant damage to his vehicle. The red flag, which was raised as a result of the incident, was one of three during the session. The first red flag came when Liam Lawson from Racing Bulls stopped on track due to a loss of steering caused by a hydraulics leak. The final red flag was triggered when Esteban Ocon crashed his Haas after spinning on the exit of turn four.
Russell, who has been struggling recently, managed to bounce back and beat Antonelli to sprint pole. After being fastest on both runs in final qualifying, Russell finished just 0.068 seconds ahead of Antonelli. Lando Norris led an all-McLaren second row, finishing 0.315 seconds behind pole and 0.019 seconds ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.
Risks of the Circuit
The presence of groundhogs on the Montreal circuit is not uncommon. These animals, a type of large ground squirrel native to North America, are frequently seen around the track, which is located on an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River. There have been several incidents involving drivers colliding with groundhogs, including one last year involving Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
“It’s one of the risks of this circuit. I know that sounds strange,” said James Vowles, the Williams team principal, in an interview with Sky Sports.
“Unfortunately there’s been a few of these. He [Albon] has hit a marmot [groundhog] and the damage is extensive from that point onwards. He needed this session. You get 60 minutes and that’s it, and to lose over half of it is frustrating.”
Vowles added, “Back in the garage he’s more worried about his mum, who suspects he’s going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots because that’s a consequence of that.”
Live Coverage
ABC Sport will be live blogging all the action from the Canadian Grand Prix on Monday from 5am (AEST). Fans can follow the event for updates and insights into the races and the challenges faced by the drivers.
