Hamilton's tragedy at the Grand Prix: marmot destroys Ferrari!

Hamilton's tragedy at the Grand Prix: marmot destroys Ferrari!

At the Grand Prix of Canada on June 16, 2025, Lewis Hamilton experienced a turbulent race weekend that was characterized by a shocking incident with a marmot. During the initial phase of the race, the British Formula 1 star ran over the animal, which led to considerable damage to its Ferrari SF-25. Hamilton, who ultimately finished sixth, expressed his sadness about the incident and was surprised when he was informed that the marmot had not survived the race. Video recordings document the incident, which not only caused a sensation in the course of the race, but also had an impact on the vehicle performance.

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur confirmed that the collision destroyed the entire front part of the underbody of his car. Hamilton fought with a loss of performance and discovered a hole in the underbody on the right side of his vehicle. Later braking problems also occurred, which further impaired his performance. Despite these difficulties, he admitted that he could have taken fourth place with a better strategy instead of having to satisfy himself with sixth place.

strategic challenges and outlook

Hamilton completed the race under suboptimal conditions, since the damage to the car led to a loss of about 20 points out of offense. He stated that his strategy was not optimal during the race and that he should have stopped earlier to win time. Despite the challenges, Vasseur is confident for the upcoming race in Austria and emphasizes that tire management was crucial for performance.

In addition, the competition in the 2025 season becomes harder because Hamilton competes against drivers such as Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, while Max Verstappen performed less dominant in the previous season. Hamilton, who is still in the learning phase with his new Ferrari, describes the driving behavior of the SF-25-especially in slow curves-as difficult. The 2025 season comprises a total of 24 races worldwide, starts on March 16 and ends on December 7th.

The incident in Canada is not the first of its kind. As early as 2018, Romain Grosjean also came into contact with a marmot in training. Such incidents are not unusual in Montreal because the animals live on the island in the Sankt Lorenz stream. Max Verstappen was able to avoid a marmot on the route last year. Motorsport remains popular in Germany and worldwide, but the audience is always surprised by the races, both by exciting overtaking maneuvers and unexpected incidents.