Last Updated on June 16 2025, 11:45 am
Lewis Hamilton finally took command of his Ferrari SF-25 car at the Canadian Grand Prix and out qualified his team mate for the third time this season. The seven times world champion has narrowed the gap slightly to Charles Leclerc in the qualifying statistics and now sits 3-7 to the Monegasque.
At one of his favourite circuits of the year where he has recorded a record seven wins and six pole positions, Lewis was bullish going into the Grand Prix with his Mercedes having show good race pace in the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday.
Running in fifth were he qualified for the first ten laps, Hamilton was in the mix for a famous victory and as the leaders began to pit, he moved into second place on lap fourteen before stopping for fresh rubber himself. Yet as Lewis was racing towards his first pit stop, he hit a large rodent on track which tore a hole in his floor.
Hamilton loses half a second per lap
Hamilton’s engineer later told him he had suffered damage worth 20 points of downforce as the British driver bemoaned his lack of pace. Measuring points of downforce is not an exact science and the F1 teams vary slightly in their approaches, yet as a rule of thumb ten points of down force lost equates to around a quarter of a second.
This translated into the lap times Hamilton was recording as he quickly fell away from the leading pack including his team mate. With Lando Norris crashing out of the race in the closing laps, Hamilton was able to close the gap to his team mate and finished in P6. This was the ninth race from ten where the former world champion has finished behind his Ferrari team mate this season.
Hamilton, well known for his vegan lifestyle and his love of animals appeared devasted over the incident after the chequered flag. “It was feeling pretty decent up until then. And then, I didn’t see it happen, but obviously I heard I hit a groundhog,” said Hamilton. “So that’s devastating. I love animals, and I’m so sad about it. That’s horrible. That’s never happened to me here before. It’s never nice to see that – I just hope it didn’t suffer.”
The groundhog is a large North American squirrel like rodent and it is prolific on the Isle de Notre Dame in the St. Lawrence river. Also known as marmots, the creatures are found widely in Canada and have been known to interrupt Formula One events ever since the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve played host to its first grand prix back in 1978.
Verstappen saves marmot’s life
The resident rodents in Montreal are a regular feature at the Canadian Grand Prix and the drivers are acutely aware of the risk of hitting one during any of the track sessions over the weekend. The small furry animals often meet their maker during the F1 weekend in Canada and given the speed of the cars the drivers are mostly helpless in their efforts to avoid them.
Just last year Max Verstappen risked it all by swerving to miss a marmot in the chicane on his way to victory with the world champion revealing after the chequered flag. “He was almost dead. I started to get to the last chicane and I thought it was debris initially. I started to close in and then I’m like, oh my god, it’s an animal. So yeah, I swerved right at the last moment. I don’t know what happened after.”
The groundhog did survive the incident without injury. Back in 2018 Romain Grosjean wrecked the nose of his Haas F1 car after hitting a marmot during free practice on the Ilse de Notre Dame. The groundhog had been captured for several minutes by the TV cameras and the French driver expressed disappointment that the marshals had not attempted to catch and remove the rodent.
The then race director Charlie Whiting had been tackled over the matter but he revealed the FIA had been advised against making efforts to remove the rodents. “Of course we saw the groundhog,” Whiting said. “I did ask if it was feasible to try and catch him and I was told by those who know much more about groundhogs it was a very unwise thing to try and do.
FIA refuse to catch rodent
“We felt that on balance it was better to leave it there and hope he didn’t make a dash for it but he did, unfortunately. They are indigenous to this island, they’re protected, and they do their best to get places they’re not supposed to go. We do our best to try and fill up all the holes but they just dig new ones and quite often get onto the track,” said the late Whiting.
The city of Montreal have in the past placed animal traps around the circuit in efforts to reduce the chances of what could be a dangerous collision. The animals favourite food is placed within the cages in an effort to lure the animals to a safe haven, where they are then moved to a safer location.
Hamilton believes him hitting the groundhog was costly as he reflected on what could have been a more promising weekend. “I was holding on until the damage, I was kind of holding on to Piastri. I think with the damage, I started to drop off from Piastri.” Lewis again questioned the Ferrari tyre strategy reasoning had they pitted him earlier like the leaders ahead the incident may have never occurred.
“We probably should have stopped around the same sort of time, but we, for some reason, stayed out, and then I lost a ton of time, came out behind a bunch of people, and then I was stuck behind people, so then I just ended up in no man’s land.” Lewis admitted his qualifying was better than in recent weeks, as he reflected mournfully on what might have been.
“But to still come away with sixth is a positive. I think if everything was perfect, if we had done everything right and we didn’t have any problems, maybe we would have fourth,” concluded the seven-time world champion.
FIA activates full time stewarding debate
The debate over why Formula One does not have full time professional stewards who police the on track action is about to kick off again. Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA have suspended Derick Warwick for making “unauthorised comments” to an online gambling website, Plejmo.
Warwick discussed a number of topics including Max Verstappen’s controversial contact with George Russell at the recent Spanish Grand Prix. “Should he have done what he did, in Turn 5 with George Russell? Absolutely not,” Warwick said of Max Verstappen. “Did he get a penalty for it? Yes. I’m not condoning it, I’m not saying it’s right, it’s absolutely wrong, and the FIA quite rightly gave him a penalty.
“I think they got it about right,” he added. “I think a lot of people would say he should have got a ban as an example to young karters, and they are probably right, but I feel the penalty was spot on. You’ve got to look at each individual incident on their own merit. I thought it was very questionable. It’s not what I like to see.”…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
