‘Extensive’ damage to Alex Albon’s car after hitting marmot revealed | F1 | Sport

The groundhog tried to cross the track just as the Williams car was approaching on the exit of turn seven. Sadly Albon, who could do nothing to prevent the chain of events that followed, ran over the rodent with his front-left tyre which seemed to damage the suspension, leaving the driver a mere passenger as the car slammed into the wall on the left side of the track.

A team spokesperson confirmed that Albon “unfortunately could not avoid” killing the marmot or the impact with the wall which followed. He was unharmed and was able to climb out of the stricken car under his own power, after shouting over the radio: “I am so f***ing unlucky.”

His mechanics would have felt the same as they were soon pitted in a race against time to get the car fixed in time for the start of Sprint qualifying just a few hours later on Friday. Speaking to Sky Sports shortly after the crash, team principal Vowles said the damage done to the car was “extensive”.

Confirming damage to “the front corner, rear corner, floor, front wing and suspension”, he added: “It’s one of the risks of this circuit. I know that sounds strange, perhaps, to people who aren’t used to it, but there are marmots across the 26 years or so we’ve been coming here, and, unfortunately, there have been a few of these [incidents].

“[Alex’s] initial reaction is obviously frustration, because he was keeping his head up on Carlos [Sainz], and his pace was looking good, and he needs this session. In these Sprint sessions, you get 60 minutes. That’s it, and to lose over half of it is frustrating. Back in the garage, he’s more worried about his mum, but suspects he’s going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots, because that is a consequence of that.”

Albon is an animal lover and the owner of several cats who have their own social media pages. This incident follows another which happened last year during the Grand Prix in itself when Lewis Hamilton, who has been vegan for nearly a decade because of his love for animals, struck a groundhog in his Ferrari.

“I didn’t see it happen, but obviously I heard I hit a groundhog,” he said after the race, which had been compromised because of damage caused by the wildlife strike. “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.”