12/06/2007
NEWS STORY
Even though he is English and not from north America, Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson should surely know what a beaver is by now.
Following the Canadian Grand Prix the English driver lamented the incident that cost him possible World Championship points, and a cute little creature its life.
"It's such a shame about the beaver," said Davidson late on Sunday afternoon, having finished eleventh. "It had it in for me, for sure.
"I was running in third place at the time, behind the safety car," he continued "I was on a clear, one stop strategy and it damaged the front wing. I couldn't even see it at high speed and I could not understand why suddenly I locked up the front tyres and so I had to come in to the pitlane.
"The guys were taken by surprise in the garage when I came in, but they were really on it with the race strategy after that, telling me to overtake the safety car to get my lap back and it was a really enjoyable race at the end."
On Friday, Ralf Schumacher, a man who might be justified in not recognizing a beaver, had a close encounter on the main straight during free practice, and as Pitpass pointed out at the time the creature in question was a groundhog (right).
Davidson's faux pas has caused outrage, with Canada Grand Prix spokesman Normand Prieur telling the CanWest News Service: "A beaver? Give me a break. I think the last time there was a beaver in Montreal was 1649!
"This is all because of (British journalists) who have probably never seen a beaver in their lives," he added, clearly not having read Pitpass, where editor Chris Balfe knows a beaver when he sees one.
Prieur revealed that in the weeks leading up the race, city officials trapped as many groundhogs as they could around the Ile Notre-Dame track and transported them to Ile Ste-Helene. "Unfortunately," he said "some of them weren't found, and one of them happened to cross the track and Davidson hit it."