Lewis Hamilton revealed that hitting a groundhog earlier in the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix caused damage that cost him a better position at the finish.
Hamilton finished sixth in the race after qualifying fifth, having been leapfrogged by team-mate Charles Leclerc, who had started in eighth.
The Briton said after qualifying that he felt a podium finish was on the cards, but ultimately, the Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren packages were too good for the Scuderia.
Despite a top three finish being out of reach, Hamilton did believe that one place less was entirely plausible until he hit something on Lap 12, which he discovered to be a groundhog after the race, which caused damage that he had to nurse until the end.
“[It] just destroyed the front right,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week, adding: “I was just slow, I was just lacking a lot of performance. I think it was over half a second, so just going backwards.”
Team boss Fred Vasseur confirmed that this was the case, telling media including Motorsport Week that Hamilton had “damaged all the front part of the floor, I think like 20 points [of downforce loss]. Hopefully, we didn’t have a big change in balance, but it was a lot of performance.”
Car damage and post-pit stop traffic left Hamilton ‘in no man’s land’
Hamilton was able to keep in touch with Oscar Piastri, even after the groundhog incident, but rued the timing of a tyre stop that left him struggling to find clean air.
“I think, yeah, my qualifying was better, I was holding on up until the damage.
“I was kind of holding on to Piastri, I think with the damage then I started to drop off from Piastri and then we probably should have stopped around the similar sort of time, but we for some reason stayed out and then I lost a ton of time and 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.
“But to still come away with this 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 a fourth.”
However, wishing for fourth initially transferred to seventh, but Lando Norris’ late clash with Piastri saw him move up the order, but it did little to pacify Hamilton’s disapointment.
“Well, I mean, I finished 6th, so it would have been 7th if it wasn’t for a crash up ahead, which I was grateful for,” he said.
“So the positives, Montreal never fails to amaze. And I think the crowd was incredible this weekend, so a big thank you.
“It was also great to see, you know, I’ve been coming here for 18 years and the support that I’ve had has been amazing.
“And to see my people that were with me follow through and come out in red this weekend has been really cool to see.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri praises ‘good guy’ Lando Norris for taking accountability for Canada F1 crash
