Formula 1: It’s 2019; why are early checkered flags even an issue?

A system error rolled back the Japanese Grand Prix result by one lap. In the year 2019, why are early checkered flags even an issue in Formula 1?

SportPesa Racing Point’s Sergio Perez found himself in the wall after crashing in turn one of the 18-turn, 3.609-mile (5.808-kilometer) Suzuka Circuit road course in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan on the 53rd and final lap of the Japanese Grand Prix Formula 1 race this past Sunday.

This incident stripped Perez of what would have been a ninth place finish and the two points that came along with it.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was promoted from 10th to ninth place, scoring two points as opposed to one, while Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was promoted from 11th to 10th, scoring one point as opposed to none.

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Or so fans (justifiably) thought.

A technical glitch caused the checkered flag light panel to be activated too early, and according to the sport’s regulations, this meant that the race must be deemed completed when the race leader last crossed the finish line before this activation occurred.

So Perez scored two points with a ninth place finish, Hulkenberg scored one point with a 10th place finish and Stroll failed to score points with an 11th place finish — all because of a technical glitch.

This is not the first time that some issue with the checkered flag has taken place in recent years. In last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, the checkered flag was waved by celebrity Winnie Harlow one lap early (and for the wrong driver, nonetheless), causing the results to be rolled back to two laps prior to the completion of the 70-lap race.

You’d think it was 1963 or something.

It’s not. It’s 2019, and technical glitches and/or celebrities not knowing what they’re doing should not play a role in determining the outcome of races in the so-called “pinnacle of motorsport”, yet they do, simply because of a regulation that says they do.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who finished in second place in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix and won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, discussed the matter of the checkered flag glitch, according to Motorsport.

"“From the driver’s point of view it’s very clear: there was no checkered flag. We have the pit board giving us the information on the laps, we see it on the dashboard as well how many laps are still to go. I saw there was a lap to go and got the call by radio it was the last lap, even though there was a confusion because I think it’s more the timing [system] that set the checkered flag.“I don’t know the background but in the car it was no problem because there was no checkered flag waved. We had an issue in Canada [last] year where the checkered flag was waved too early. Now as I understand it the timing [system] is the more decisive one. Whereas I think it should still be the checkered flag as well.“So if you get one of the two wrong, it doesn’t matter which one, for us drivers it matters if you see the checkered flag you shouldn’t continue. With the current rules, had they shown the checkered flag a lap too early the race would have still continued. That’s wrong I think. We can do better overall.”"

Naturally as a driver, you’re not counting the laps in your head. You can probably count on one hand the number of drivers who could tell you exactly when they reached lap 38 in a given race throughout Formula 1 history.

But there are still ways other than a checkered light panel, of which many Vettel touched upon, to tell how far along a race is and when it is slated to end.

A technical glitch should not end a race considering there are a plethora ways of getting around it. It should not be the be-all and end-all of a Formula 1 race when it doesn’t have to be — and it doesn’t have to be.

Vettel did state that he believes the checkered flag itself should be the more decisive way of determining the end of a race. But even with what we saw in last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, there are ways of getting around such an error of an early checkered flag as well, many of which Vettel also elaborated on.

There are billions of dollars flying around in Formula 1, and a job that a kindergartener could do is putting results at risk because it’s not being done properly, sometimes by man, other times by machine.

Why is this still an issue?

Like the whole ordeal involving Daniil Kvyat’s “illegal” helmet design ahead of the Russian Grand Prix last month, this seems like nothing more than the FIA enforcing a regulation for no other reason than someone came up with it and made it a regulation at some point. There are ways of getting around the so-called “issue” at hand, yet we are still stuck behind it.