Whiting defends Winnie Harlow after chequered flag blunder

Charlie Whiting had defended model and friend of Lewis Hamilton, Winnie Harlow. The model waived the chequered flag two laps early at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix meaning the result was made official on lap 68/70 because of the blunder.

"She was given the order too early. So it's not her fault," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

The mistake instead was attributed to a local Montreal official, "He asked the race director if the race was on the last lap. But they understood it not as a question but as a statement and answered ok," Whiting added.

"We could think about replacing the flag with a signal on the LED boards. But it would be a huge hassle for a problem that occurs once in a decade," he added.