Lewis Hamilton disclosed that hitting a groundhog during the recent Canadian Grand Prix significantly impacted his race performance.
Finishing in a distant sixth place, the Ferrari driver sustained damage from lap nine of the 70-lap event. The collision occurred when his car struck one of the groundhogs frequently seen at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
According to Hamilton, the incident resulted in a loss of 20 points of downforce, equivalent to roughly half a second per lap. This explains the substantial gap of 22 seconds between him and teammate Charles Leclerc before a late Safety Car period caused by a collision between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“I was feeling quite good up to that point,” Hamilton told the media. “I had a decent start, maintained my position, and was keeping up with the lead group. I was managing the tires effectively and felt optimistic. I didn`t witness the impact, but I was told I hit a groundhog. That`s upsetting because I care about animals, and I`m very sad about it. It`s terrible. This has never happened to me before.”
“The right side of the floor sustained a hole, damaging all the internal structures. Considering that, plus a brake problem we encountered halfway through the race, and staying out too long during the first pit stop which put us in traffic, things just went from bad to worse. So, I`m grateful just to have finished and secured some points, especially given the brake issue.”
Despite Montreal being expected to be a more favorable circuit for Ferrari, Hamilton was over six-tenths of a second off pole-sitter George Russell in Saturday qualifying.
Hamilton hinted that Ferrari might introduce an upgrade for the upcoming race in Austria.
“We genuinely need an upgrade, and numerous aspects need modification for us to contend at the front,” he stated. “We hopefully have something coming next week. I`m unsure how substantial it will be; I don`t think it`s a major change. It just feels like one of those seasons.”
Leclerc Questions Ferrari Strategy
Charles Leclerc, along with Lando Norris, were among the main contenders who started the race on the hard compound tires, opting for an alternative strategy.
However, the Monegasque driver pitted before the halfway mark, making a one-stop strategy impossible, even though Leclerc felt his tires were still performing well.
He was leading the race with 18 laps remaining when Ferrari called him in for a second stop, dropping him to fifth place.
“I was quite confident that a one-stop strategy would have been better for me,” Leclerc commented. “Initially, I thought I had managed the tires well, but then I saw the drivers on medium tires were pushing hard.
I was convinced the one-stop was the way to go. But we decided differently. I don`t have all the information inside the car, so we stuck to a two-stop strategy. I did my best, and fifth was the highest I could achieve.
We paid the price for my mistake in FP1 and traffic during qualifying. I`m probably the first person to blame. The strategy perhaps could have been better, but our starting position was the main hindrance.”
