Watch this groundhog’s attempt to dodge Formula 1 cars. Did it survive?
The phrase, “A tradition unlike any other,” is reserved by broadcasting legend Jim Nantz in reference to the Masters each April.
It can also go to the Canadian Grand Prix, but for the animal sighting that happens annually at the track in Montreal.
And it happened again this past weekend during practice for this year’s race. It’s a groundhog, or marmot, that finds its way on the track. This year, one was spotted dodging two Formula 1 cars as it went from one side of the track to the other safely.
But it’s not always the case as Autosport.com reported in 2018 about one that was struck and how the animal has been spotted every year at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since its debut in 1978.
“They are indigenous to the island, they are protected, and they do their best to get to places that they are not supposed to go,” former Formula 1 racing director Charlie Whiting, who passed away in 2019, said in 2018 to Autosport.com. “We do our best to try and fill up all the holes, but they just dig new ones, and they quite often get onto the track. It’s not nice, but there’s very little that we can actually do to eradicate it.”
Take a look at this year’s close call with the groundhog as it avoided the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz during a practice run Friday:
