Hamilton, groundhog ruin each other's day in Canada

Lewis Hamilton’s Canadian Grand Prix was hampered by damage he picked up early in the race when hitting a groundhog, as he ended up finishing sixth.

The Ferrari driver started from fifth and was close behind Oscar Piastri for much of the first stint, before fading around the first pit stop phase. He was passed by teammate Charles Leclerc through strategy and drifted to nearly 30s behind the cars ahead of him before a late safety car period, with it later emerging that Hamilton was losing nearly half a second a lap after broadcast footage showed him hitting a groundhog on lap 13.

“I think it was feeling pretty decent up until then,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “I got a good start, held position, I was holding on to the group – I was managing the tire as well, so I was feeling optimistic.

“And then I didn't see it happen, but I heard I hit a groundhog, so that's devastating. I love animals so I'm so sad about it. That's horrible. That's never happened to me here before, but [the right side of the floor] has hole in it and all the vanes are all gone so…

“Then we had a brake issue halfway through as well, and then we all see we stayed out probably too long in the first stop and came out behind traffic and just went from one thing to another. I'm grateful that I could just finish, particularly with the brake issue I had, and bag those points.”

Hamilton qualified solidly on Saturday but was unable to challenge for pole position, and after a race where Leclerc finished fifth but was also not able to match the pace of the podium-contending Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull drivers, Hamilton added: “We're really in need of an upgrade and there's a lot of things that need to change in order for us to compete at the front.”