Alex Albon crashed out of FP1 in Canada after hitting a groundhog. Image: F1
Albon was exiting the Turn 6-7 chicane at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve when the animal, also known as a marmot, ran across the circuit and into the path of his car.
The impact unsettled the Williams and sent Albon wide into the outside wall, heavily damaging the left-hand side of the FW48.
The incident brought out a red flag during the sole practice session of the sprint weekend, with Williams later confirming the damage was too severe to repair in time for sprint qualifying.
“Following the incident in FP1 involving wildlife on track, Alex will not run in this afternoon’s sprint qualifying session,” Williams said in a statement.
“Despite the best efforts of the team to repair the car, the damage sustained was far more extensive than originally thought, requiring the gearbox and PU to be replaced.
“It’s unlucky for Alex, but we’ll look to take all the learnings from Carlos’ side of the garage to be as prepared as possible for tomorrow’s sessions.”
Williams team principal James Vowles later detailed the extent of the damage caused by the impact.
“It’s one of the risks of this circuit,” Vowles told Sky Sports.
“I know that it sounds strange to people who aren’t used to it, but there are marmots here, and in the years that we have been coming here, unfortunately, there have been a few of these.
“It’s hard to see from the footage, but he hit a marmot, and you’ll see the damage is extensive from that part onwards – front corner, rear corner, potentially the floor and front wing, etc., and rear suspension.”
The crash compounded a frustrating start to the season for Albon, who had shown promising pace early in the session before the accident.
“His initial reaction was frustration, because he was quick, he was up on Carlos, his pace was looking good, and he needs this session,” Vowles said.
“In these sprint sessions, you get 60 minutes, and that’s it. To lose over half of it is frustrating.”
Vowles also revealed Albon later managed to see some humour in the unusual incident.
“Back in the garage, he’s more worried about his mum who suspects that he’s going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots, because that is a consequence of that.”
Groundhog encounters have become an unfortunate feature of racing in Montreal, with Lewis Hamilton also striking one during last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, as well as several other incidents over the years.
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