Albon misses Sprint qualifying after groundhog-induced crash

Alex Albon will not take part in Sprint qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix after colliding with a groundhog in FP1.

The Williams driver was exiting Turn 7 when a groundhog attempted to run across the track from the outside of the corner, giving Albon no time to react to try and avoid it. After hitting the groundhog with the front-left corner of the car, the tire was momentarily lifted off the track and he struck the outside wall, damaging the left-hand side.

“I am so f***ing unlucky,” Albon said on team radio at the time.

Once the car was returned to the garage after a delayed FP1 session – race control having extended it by nearly 20 minutes due to multiple red flags – Williams found it could not be repaired in time ahead of Sprint qualifying.

“Following the incident in FP1 involving wildlife on track, Alex will not run in this afternoon’s Sprint qualifying session,” a team spokesperson said. “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’ [Sainz] side of the garage to be as prepared as possible for tomorrow’s sessions.”

Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is located on the Ile Notre-Dame in the middle of the St Lawrence River, and has had a long-standing issue with wildlife that resides on the island. Just last year, Lewis Hamilton struck a groundhog during the race, damaging his car.

“I didn't see it happen, but obviously I heard I hit a groundhog,” Hamilton said at the time. “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.”