An FIA delegate was forced to stop Jack Whitehall from holding up the chequered flag one lap before the finish of the Miami Grand Prix . The British comedian later joked about ‘ending the Grand Prix a lap early’ on Instagram . Whitehall was given the honour of waving the flag in the Magic City on Sunday. The 36-year-old is a diehard F1 fan, and even presented the groundbreaking F1 75 season launch event at the O2 Arena, earning rave reviews for his no-punches-pulled approach.

Unfortunately for the Brit, his flag-waving experience nearly ended in disaster. As the drivers prepared to enter the final lap, Whitehall’s flag started to creep up, but he was quickly stopped by the FIA marshal accompanying him on the start-finish line. Posting about the experience on his Instagram account, he wrote: “The moment they regret their choice of person to waive the chequered flag. When I accidentally end the Grand Prix a lap early.”

Despite Whitehall’s jokes, this has happened before. At the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix, model Winnie Harlow mistakenly waved the flag on lap 69, rather than lap 70, as a result of a communications mix-up. Sebastian Vettel passed the start-finish straight and kept his foot in the gas, so the chaos didn’t affect the end result.

Earlier in the weekend, Whitehall was approached by Martin Brundle during the Sky Sports F1 broadcaster’s grid walk segment. "I have been apologising to all the drivers and team principals for F1 75," Whitehall explained.

"Me and James Vowles, though, are now lifelong friends. He invited me into the Williams garage. We had some espresso martinis together. I really hope he gets some points today. What a man! I'm so happy Williams can have a great weekend here in Miami."

While Whitehall’s flag-waving exploits were a brush with disaster, his well-wishes for Williams produced immense results. Vowles’ squad picked up a major points haul in Miami after Alex Albon finished fifth, with team-mate Carlos Sainz in ninth.