The founder of the animal rights organisation PETA has lauded Alex Albon for his actions in Montreal at the weekend.
In a bid to avoid hitting one of the circuit’s infamous groundhogs the Williams driver crashed causing damage to his car, and sadly terminal damage to the animal. A day later, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was in collision with another groundhog.
Over the years there have been many such incident involving all types of wildlife, Sebastian Vettel famously taking avoiding action at a restart to avoid a group of seagulls which his rivals hadn’t seen, while in 2007 Anthony Davidson missed out on scoring his maiden F1 points after hitting a groundhog. Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton are among the other to have had similar encounters.
PETA founder, Ingrid Newkirk, while praising Albon, called on race organisers to take more action in a bid to prevent future incidents.
“Alex Albon’s decision to swerve to try to miss hitting a marmot on the track makes him a winner,” said Newkirk in a statement. “Showing both courage and compassion, he made the split-second choice to value the life of a vulnerable animal, and that wins him a place on the PETA podium.
“Other species don’t understand racetracks or fast-moving cars,” she added, in a bid to persuade FOM and the FIA to take action. “They’re simply trying to go about their lives. PETA hopes this incident will prompt organisers to implement stronger deterrent measures to protect the animals who call these areas home and the drivers themselves.”
Following Friday’s incident, team boss, James Vowles admitted that the incident had resulted in mixed emotions for Albon, a well-documented lover of animals… especially cats!
“His initial reaction is obviously frustration, because he was quick up on Carlos,” the Briton told Sky. “In these sprint sessions, you get sixty minutes, that’s it, and to lose over half of it is frustrating.
“Back in the garage, he’s more worried about his mum, who suspects he’s going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots. Because that is a consequence of that.”