The chequered flag blunder at the end of the 2018 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix last weekend, may have been a crisis averted, but did raise several questions of safety concerns during the race. The incident has been embarrassing for the F1 officials and the team is now devising a new method to make it seamless. In a recent statement, Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting has suggested that an automated chequered flag system could be introduced in the future. The miscommunication between the F1 official and race control caused the race to finish a lap earlier than scheduled with the chequered flag waved on Lap 69 instead of Lap 70 by Canadian model Winne Harlow.
Speaking about taking future measures, Whiting said that he will now consider having the official signal for the end of the race on light boards above the start/finish line. This, in effect, could replace the chequered flag completely in Formula 1.
Elaborating further, Whiting said, "I think we'd need to probably think about having a better end of race signal. The chequered flag is traditional, but it's something that, as we've seen today, is prone to mistakes. You could, and it would be quite straightforward for us, make the big black panel that you see show a chequered flag at the appropriate time. But if you're going to do it automatically, then you've got to think about exactly when you're going to do it, when you're going to activate it. It's not completely straightforward, it needs a little bit of thought. We need to try and get to the situation where drivers only look at the chequered flag on the light panel. If they don't see that, then the race hasn't ended."
(Winnie Harlow waving the chequered flag as Sebastian Vettel Ferrari completes Lap 69)
Whiting further said that the team needs to go to that length to rectify a situation that may happen once every 10 years. However, it is something that needs to be looked into. He also clarified that F1 has plans to stop designated VIPs from waving the flag. In this case, as well, Harlow was asked by the F1 official to wave the flag, and it wasn't her fault. However, the number of people that are around the start/finish line could be curbed in the future to avoid confusion.
The unscheduled chequered flag wave was a result of human error and miscommunication, the F1 officials declared. Whiting previously said that the official miscalculated the number of laps complete and the starter was informed to wave the chequered flag, which he told Harlow to do so. While the race did not affect the final standings of the top 10 positions with Sebastian Vettel taking the win, the incident did rob Daniel Ricciardo of his fastest lap, as the results went back a lap further to Lap 68.
However, this wasn't an isolated incident with the chequered flag. Previously, a similar incident took place at the end of the Chinese GP when football legend Pele missed the leader and waved the flag too late.
Th incident at the Montreal circuit, however, did highlight safety concerns. While waving the chequered flag means the end of the race, teams had asked the drivers to continue racing for one additional lap. With such a confusion, it is possible that the marshalls could go onto the track while the race cars are still competing at high speeds.
