Lewis Hamilton lost performance after hitting groundhog

Ferrari blamed a groundhog strike for wrecking Lewis Hamilton's Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, with the seven times Formula One world champion saying he was devastated to have killed the animal.

Hamilton finished sixth at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, one place behind teammate Charles Leclerc, and complained over the radio at one point that he was “nowhere in the race”.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur confirmed the car had hit a groundhog after about eight or nine laps and suffered floor damage equating to about 20 points of downforce, or half a second a lap.

Hamilton was some 22 seconds behind Leclerc before a safety car at the end bunched up the field again.

“We will send flowers to the marmot (groundhog),” said Vasseur.

Hamilton, a vegan and the sport's most successful driver of all time, was more upset.

“I was managing the tyres well. I was feeling optimistic. I didn't see it happen but I heard I hit a groundhog,” he told reporters.

“That's devastating because I love animals and I'm so sad about it,” he said. “That's horrible. It's never happened to me before.

“The right side of the floor has a hole on it and all the vanes are done.”

Groundhogs are a regular hazard at the Montreal track, which is on an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence Seaway.