Over the years, Formula One has had its doors open to celebrities, not just in terms of spectating the on-track actions, but also to deal with certain vital jobs. For instance, the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix witnessed Tennis superstar and a close friend of Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams, waving the chequered flag at the end of the main race.

But, let’s ask ourselves; Is it worth the risk? Should F1 let such VIP guests play with the fate of the drivers? Of course, one might wonder what the fuss is all about, considering Williams had managed to accomplish her job to perfection.

Well, we have a rather interesting story to share with you; A story quite similar to that of Williams’ 2021 Monaco GP. Only in this case, this particular celebrity did not get the job done and possibly wrecked Daniel Ricciardo’s chances of accomplishing the fastest lap.

When this friend of Lewis Hamilton messed up the F1 race in Montreal

During the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix, F1 welcomed model, Winnie Harlow, to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit and eventually handed her the job of waving the chequered flag at the end of the race on Sunday. Well, she did, but, just two laps earlier than she was supposed to. The 28-year-old Canadian brought the chequered flag out by the end of lap 69 instead of lap 70.

The gravity of this minor mistake could’ve blown out of proportion, considering the $40 million dollar-worth efforts at stake. But, lucky for Harlow, the early end didn’t affect the results much, and the race didn’t feel anti-climatic either.

Nonetheless, this unsurprisingly led to massive backlash from the fans and the hate was immense, enough to force Ross Brawn to defend Harlow in a public statement. The Briton further apologized to the Canadian model and reckoned she did not deserve the “grief“.

“She was asked to wave the chequered flag but was told to do so after 69 of the 70 laps had been completed,” he said. “I was sad to see her so heavily criticised when, as race director Charlie Whiting explained, it was all down to a misunderstanding between two officials.

“Winnie simply followed the instructions she was given and I want to apologise for the grief she received and thank her for supporting Formula 1.”

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Winnie Harlow’s tweet following the Canadian GP mishap

After the unfortunate Canadian GP mishap, Harlow immediately took to Instagram to plead her innocence by indirectly blaming the officials. “WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO WAVE THE FLAG A LAP TOO EARLY! You had one job sir! Hahaha but so grateful everyone was safe today and no one got hurt for this,” she wrote.

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Overall, F1 is still open to letting VIP guests wave the chequered flags at the end of races. And the sad truth is, there is no guarantee that an incident similar to Harlow’s will not recur in the future, and luck may not come to the rescue then. Hence, should the sport put an end to this ritual and let the officials do their job without much obstruction?