Valtteri Bottas revealed he ran over a squirrel on his way to taking pole position for tomorrow’s sprint qualifying race at Monza.
The Mercedes driver was on an out-lap towards the end of Q2 at the time. He pulled to the right and overtook Antonio Giovinazzi as they came out of Lesmo One.As Bottas was about to return to the racing line he encountered the squirrel which was running from the left-hand side of the track to the right. The Mercedes driver reacted, jinxing left towards Giovinazzi, but appeared to strike the squirrel with his right-front wheel.
“I just ran over a squirrel, unfortunately,” he informed race engineer Riccardo Musconi. There was no obvious indication of any damage to his car from video footage of the session, though Bottas did not improve his time on the subsequent lap.
“So when I come in, I hit the squirrel with the front-right tyre so the right-hand-side of the car, have a look,” said Bottas on his in-lap.
Nicholas Latifi also had a close encounter with the wildlife at the Monza circuit, which is situated in a park. The Williams driver took avoiding action when he came across a hare close to the same point on the track, at the exit of Lesmo Two.
Bottas went on to set the quickest time in Q3 and lead a one-two for Mercedes.
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Jere (@jerejj)
10th September 2021, 20:11
Groundhogs, dogs, a cat (Baku 2016), a lizard, seagulls, other birds, deer, squirrel (both Monza and Montreal), and a rabbit – I wonder which animal will invade a live track during an F1 session next?
SteveR
10th September 2021, 20:29
I recall an idiot human running onto the track at the British GP during the race some years ago…..
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th September 2021, 12:09
There was also a bitter Mercedes employee who did the same at Hockenheim 2000…
LosD (@losd)
10th September 2021, 21:05
Oh deer
JohnnyRye (@)
11th September 2021, 1:03
Well played LosD!
https://youtu.be/VaU6pqhwur4
jztemple
11th September 2021, 5:05
Hare today, gone tomorrow.
VissileF1 (@mark-visser99)
11th September 2021, 1:22
I remember a ground hog at the hairpin in Montreal one year.
Nikki (@nikkit)
11th September 2021, 11:47
Though not an F1 animal incident, I remember watching a BTCC race day one year -At I think Brands Hatch- and during one of the Ginetta Juniors races, a bird landed in the middle of the track just ahead of the racing pack.
By sheer luck as I doubt any of the drivers saw this bird sat there, it was missed by almost every single car. I say almost as one of the cars at the back of the pack did indeed hit it.
So close, yet just not quite.
AtotehZ
12th September 2021, 7:02
Technically a bear could make its way onto the track at Sochi.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
10th September 2021, 20:31
Really, a Hare decided to venture on a racing track with 20000 horse powers attempting to qualify..
I was so surprised to see it.
DaveW (@dmw)
10th September 2021, 20:47
Bottas literally taking no prisoners this weekend.
CarWars (@maxv)
10th September 2021, 21:03
Bottas 5.3.7 revB the squirrel killer
Sham (@sham)
10th September 2021, 22:06
Unfortunately, it’s the beta version. There may be performance or stability issues.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
11th September 2021, 2:25
This gave me a good chuckle
stefano (@alfa145)
11th September 2021, 12:45
COTD perhaps?
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
10th September 2021, 21:36
I wonder what name the squirrel will have when it haunts his dreams! :O
melanos
10th September 2021, 22:40
Wrong, misdirected use of his killer instinct
sumedh
11th September 2021, 5:44
So, next time Valtteri doesn’t listen to James, this will be Mercedes’ plan B, send wildlife towards Valtteri’s car.
RandomMallard (@)
11th September 2021, 6:44
3 place grid penalty for hitting that squirrel ;-)
Qeki (@qeki)
11th September 2021, 10:15
Even the italian squirrels and hares can’t handle themselves when they could finally see a race after 2 years.
Plossl (@)
11th September 2021, 13:12
Are Red Bull using trained squirrels now?
kevin
11th September 2021, 14:15
maybe that was his lucky charm to pole .who know you get luck in different ways .he got a slipstream.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
11th September 2021, 15:12
The hare was faster than Latifi.