Confusion triggers FIA rule change after grand prix cut short - On This Day

On 10 June 2018, Sebastian Vettel had dominated proceedings in Montreal, leading every single lap of the Canadian Grand Prix in his Ferrari en route to a landmark 50th F1 career victory.

It was supposed to be a straightforward celebration, but instead, the race is remembered as much for an extraordinary blunder at the finish line as for any on-track action.

Model Winnie Harlow, invited as a celebrity guest to wave the chequered flag, unfurled it as Vettel crossed the line at the end of lap 69, one lap before the scheduled 70-lap distance.

The error was not hers. A miscommunication between a local official and race control was to blame, with the local starter asking whether the race was on its final lap and the response being misinterpreted as confirmation that it was.

Harlow later took to Instagram to explain the situation with good humour, posting a photo alongside a circuit official with the caption: "When they tell you to wave the flag a lap too early! You had one job sir!!! Hahaha but I'm grateful everyone [was] safe today [and] no one [was] hurt from this."

The fallout

Under Article 43.2 of the FIA F1 sporting regulations at the time, if the chequered flag was shown prematurely, the race classification would be taken from the last time the leader crossed the line before the flag appeared.

That meant the official results were frozen at the end of lap 68, effectively shortening the grand prix by two laps.

The consequences were not merely cosmetic. Daniel Ricciardo's faster laps in the voided final running counted for nothing, and Max Verstappen was credited with the fastest lap from lap 65 rather than any later effort.

Vettel's win, Valtteri Bottas' second place and Verstappen's podium all stood, while Ricciardo took fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top six.

The FIA moved swiftly to ensure such confusion could never recur. For the 2019 season, the regulations were rewritten so that an electronic chequered flag light panel, tied to the official timing system, became the definitive race-ending signal.

The physical flag was retained, but only as a ceremonial gesture. It was a sensible, if overdue, safeguard, triggered by one of the more peculiar moments in modern F1 history.