Originally appeared on E! Online
Lewis Hamilton was grieving more than the just the loss of the race.
After accidentally running over a groundhog during the 13th lap of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, the British racing driver, who competes in Formula One for Ferrari, expressed how sad he was upon realizing he hit an animal on the track.
“I didn’t see it happen,” Hamilton said after the June 15 race, per ESPN, “but I heard I hit a groundhog.”
And while the collision may have cost him the race as well as leaving “a hole” in the right side of the floor of his car, the 40-year-old — whose 2017 shift to veganism was partially inspired by animal welfare — was more focused on the harm he caused the innocent creature.
“That’s devastating,” he continued, noting that he started the race off feeling nothing less than optimistic. “I love animals and that’s so, so sad. That’s never happened to me here before.”
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But even without the collision, Hamilton — who ended up in sixth place when Lando Norris retired after a collision with Oscar Piastri — suggested his Ferrari had already been having issues earlier on in the 70-lap race.
“Given that and we had a brake issue halfway through as well,” he explained, “and we stayed out probably too long after the first stop and came out behind traffic and it just went from one thing to another. So I’m happy I could just finish.”
Although Hamilton’s unexpected wildlife encounter may not have been the only thing to blame for his loss, it wasn’t the first time a groundhog got in the way of a race in Montreal’s Ile Notre-Dame, where the Circuit Gilles Villenueve is located.
Back in 2007, Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson was derailed by a groundhog at the Canadian Grand Prix and finished in eleventh place after having to pit for a new front wing.
Then, more than a decade later in 2018, Romain Grosjean ran into a similar situation while practicing ahead of that year’s Grand Prix.
“I’m surprised they didn’t move it,” Grosjean said at the time, per ESPN. “It’s a shame for the animal, of course, and it’s a shame for our front wing as well. We are quite limited on spare parts and losing a front wing like this is a bit disappointing.”
“It felt like a big impact,” he added. “If that happens to you in the race, your race is over—the damage was quite big.”
