Canada F1 practice interrupted by Albon groundhog crash
Alex Albon crashed out of Formula 1's only practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix after hitting a groundhog, causing the second red flag of the day.
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.
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.
It was the second stoppage in the session after Liam Lawson suffered a likely hydraulics system failure early on and had to pull over exiting the Turn 3-4 chicane with no power steering and with his Racing Bulls stuck in gear.
Unusually, the FIA has extended the session by 15 minutes to compensate for the stoppages.
The two red flags were a major disruption for teams trying to prepare for sprint qualifying later on Friday. As this is a sprint event, FP1 is the only practice session - and with so much critical track time lost, the FIA took the decision to run beyond the original 1.30pm local time finish.
