When F1's chequered flag wavers get it wrong

So the fact that the race was shortened by a lap when the chequered flag was waved early, is simply a note in the history books, albeit an embarrassing mishap — more so because of the flag bearer.

“There were some red faces amongst the race administration over this, for the man who was waving the flag was none other than Juan-Manuel Fangio!” wrote Alan Henry in the Motor Sport report.

Fangio, who was the honorary chairman of the race, mistook another car for Andretti’s — likely to have been Ronnie Peterson in the sister black and gold JPS Lotus, but Jody Scheckter’s similarly black Wolf could also have confused.

The drivers raced on, as the pitboards showed there was one lap still to go, but the results were calculated after 52 laps, rather than the scheduled 53.

 

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1985 British Grand Prix

For the sake of F1, it was just as well that the Renault engine in Ayrton Senna’s Lotus failed, with five laps remaining at Silverstone, or the chequered flag error in 1985 could have been much more controversial.

The Brazilian catapulted into the lead from fourth on the grid and was soon under pressure from Alain Prost’s McLaren, which unfolded into a race-long duel; Senna always doing just enough to keep the Frenchman behind until his engine cut out on lap 60 and retired.

So when an official mistakenly ordered the chequered flag to be flown a lap early, it had no effect on the winner; Prost was a lap ahead of second-placed Michele Alboreto. Once again, the drivers raced to their pitboards and completed the full distance — with the exception of Jacques Laffite and Derek Warwick who ran out of fuel on the final lap; the former has the flag error to thank for his podium place.

At a time when technology was sweeping into the sport, Denis Jenkinson was unsparing in his Motor Sport write-up.

“The organisers put it down to ‘human error’ which really is a nice ‘circus’ touch in this electronic, micro-chip, computer age,” he wrote. “Through all this ‘high-tech’ and electronic time-keeping to 1000th of a second, a man with a flag decides when the race has finished, and he makes ‘a human error’. It does put it all into perspective, doesn’t it?”

 

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2002 Brazilian Grand Prix

The camera operator had set up the perfect shot for the final moment of the Brazilian Grand Prix: framing the start-finish line and the gantry above where football legend Pele was stood with the chequered flag.

As Michael Schumacher’s car climbed through the final corners at Interlagos, the editor switched to the shot, right on cue, only to capture the three-time World Cup winner with his back turned to the track, talking to a figure behind him.

It wasn’t until third-placed David Coulthard crossed the line, almost a minute behind, that Pele unfurled the flag.

“I was going like this [punching the air with his fist] and then, I thought, where’s the chequered flag?” said Schumacher, who was assured that the race had ended by the routine practice of marshals waving their multicoloured array of flags at the side of the track.

 

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2014 Chinese Grand Prix

It was another race official error that brought an early end to the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix although, as ever, the drivers raced on after the chequered flag was waved two laps early.

“Yeah, I thought I was dreaming,” said race winner Lewis Hamilton, as he described seeing the flag early. “I momentarily backed off but then saw there was no-one on the [team] pit wall and got back on it. I radioed that I’d seen the chequer and the team said to just ignore it and keep going [for the last two scheduled laps].”

During that time, none of the drivers in the points changed position, so it made no difference to them when the Shanghai race was classified after 54 laps instead of the scheduled 56.

Kamui Kobayashi, however, had to live with the knowledge that his penultimate corner pass on Jules Bianchi’s Caterham was for naught. He crossed the line after lap 56 in 17th place, but the record books show him finishing 18th.

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