F1 consider moving to a digital chequered flag

Formula 1 and Liberty Media are thought to be considering reverting to a digital chequered flag to signify the end of the race, following the miscommunication at the Canada Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday which led to the race finishing early.

An official made an error and thought the race was on the final lap, lap 70, and so sent a message to model Winnie Harlow to wave the flag towards the track to bring proceedings to an end.

But the race was only on lap 69, though most drivers, including leader Sebastian Vettel, acknolwedged the error and continued as normal.

However, under FIA rules waving the flag must signal the end of the race and so the event was officially stopped early, which impacted Daniel Ricciardo, who had his fastest lap stricken from the records because it took place after the error had been recognised.

The incident was embarrassing for Liberty and so they are looking to make steps which likely retains the chequered flag as a symbolic gesture, but digitises the official end of the race so that the problem can be eliminated.

F1 race director Charlie Whiting said to Autosport of the proposal: "“The chequered flag is traditional, but it’s something that, as we’ve seen, is prone to mistakes.

“You could, and it would be quite straightforward for us, make the big black panel show a chequered flag at the appropriate time.”

Waving the flag at the wrong time has precedent; it happened in China in 2014, and while in this case there was no severe issue, it could have been a monumental disaster at a time when Formula 1 is looking closely at its image globally.