Wildlife Chaos and the Rosberg Curse – The Canadian Grand Prix Y… read more
The Canadian Grand Prix wasn’t exactly one for the ages when it came to on-track action—at least for most of the race. For about 65 of the 70 laps, you could be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally tuned into a slow-motion parade. But in those final moments, chaos erupted—and if you blinked or dozed off after Lap 20, you may have missed a few crucial (and bizarre) happenings.
Let’s begin with the most cinematic of foreshadowing moments. F1 teams pride themselves on preparing for every eventuality, often planning all the way through to “Plan Z.” So when one team radioed in asking a driver if he’d want to switch to soft tyres “if there’s a late safety car,” it seemed a sensible enough contingency. The twist? That same driver would go on to crash a few laps later, bringing out that very safety car. Whether that’s strategy or some form of karmic self-sabotage is still up for debate, but it sure made things interesting.
Speaking of things getting wild—quite literally—it’s been a horrific month for animals on racetracks. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes picked up damage early in the race, which puzzled many viewers. The answer wasn’t revealed until after the chequered flag: a groundhog had a very unfortunate encounter with his car. Parts of the poor creature reportedly scattered so far that one piece became, to put it grimly, a “hedge-hog.” This came just hours after a rabbit met a similar fate at Le Mans, and days after NASCAR driver Ty Dillon collided with a squirrel at pit entry. If you’re an animal lover, perhaps keep your eyes closed during motorsport season.
Now, back to McLaren—because it wouldn’t be a modern F1 weekend without a bit of orange-tinged drama. Lando Norris started seventh and was already on the back foot thanks to a tricky tyre strategy. Just as the team asked him to dig deep and deliver “one of those amazing races,” things went south. Instead of heroics, Norris ended up smashing into his teammate Oscar Piastri in what looked more like a battleship trying to parallel park than a precision overtake. That was not what the strategists meant by “amazing.”
Even the post-race coverage came with its quirks. Viewers watching from home might’ve noticed a peculiar loop of footage playing on the giant screen at the bottom hairpin: a short scene from the upcoming F1 film. It played every single time the director cut to the fixed camera in that spot. Some fans thought the poor Canadian crowd had been subjected to a never-ending film trailer. Thankfully, this was just clever digital overlay for the broadcast. The spectators at the track were seeing real-time footage from across the circuit—not being held hostage by an ad. No fans were harmed in the making of that broadcast… though we can’t say the same for the aforementioned groundhog.
Finally, let’s talk about the Rosberg Curse. Yes, it’s still alive and well. For those unfamiliar, it’s the odd phenomenon where something seems to go wrong for anyone Nico Rosberg supports or interacts with before a race. He tried to dodge it this weekend by not posting with any drivers—but fate wasn’t fooled. Rosberg shared a pre-race photo at the Montreal circuit, specifically at the run to Turn 1. Guess what? That’s exactly where Norris binned it. Coincidence? Maybe. But at this point, the curse has better race prediction stats than some teams’ strategies.
So while the Canadian GP might not win any awards for pure racing drama, it certainly had its share of weirdness, wild turns, and wildlife tragedies. F1 fans know: sometimes it’s the chaos outside the top three that tells the real story.
