Groundhog clash damage rules Albon out of F1 sprint qualifying

Alex Albon's collision with a groundhog in practice caused enough damage to his Williams to force him to miss sprint qualifying later on Friday.

The Williams driver was exiting the Turn 6-7 chicane as the animal ran across the track. 

As Albon followed the natural line close to the edge of the track, striking the animal with the corner of his car's front wing sent Albon slightly wider off-line and hard into the wall on the outside. 

It caused extensive damage to the left-hand side of the car, which gradually slid to the inside of the circuit and stopped just short of the right-hand side barriers.

But the damage was even worse than first realised once the car was recovered to Williams.

Around 20 minutes before sprint qualifying, Williams said: "Following the incident in FP1 involving wildlife on track, Alex will not run in this afternoon’s Sprint qualifying session.

"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."

A car colliding with a groundhog is an unfortunate occupational hazard at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Lewis Hamilton hit one during last year's grand prix, for example, and there have been various collisions and near-misses over the years.

Albon was joined on the sidelines by Liam Lawson, who suffered a likely hydraulics system failure early on in FP1 and had to pull over exiting the Turn 3-4 chicane with no power steering and with his Racing Bulls stuck in gear.

"Liam's car won't be ready in time for sprint qualy this afternoon, following a hydraulic leak during FP1; the team are working hard on the car to prepare for the sprint race tomorrow," Racing Bulls said.