Motorsport fans have mocked Guenther Steiner after footage emerged of the former Formula 1 team boss waving the chequered flag. The popular former Haas chief was given the honour of marking the end of the Formula E Miami E-Prix on Saturday.
Safe to say, though, that he did not display the finest technique as he carried out the important act. Straight away the flag became tangled up and Steiner is then seen to be more focused on unravelling it than on the actual waving of the flag.
Footage of the awkward moment was shared on social media and one clip alone has been viewed more than 260,000 times on X. And, naturally, it sparked a wave of comments poking fun at the 60-year-old.
“He didn’t wave the chequered flag – he wrapped the race up,” quipped one commenter. Another wrote: “I don’t consider that waving the flag.” And a third asked: “What is he doing, and why does he continue to do it?”
Steiner at least showed more enthusiasm than Apple CEO Tim Cook did when he waved the flag to end the 2022 F1 United States Grand Prix, though there were some comparisons. “Worst wave right alongside Tim Cook,” one fan said.
Formula E’s visit to Miami was its first for a decade. And, instead of the street track created for when the all-electric series last raced in Florida, the existing Homestead-Miami Speedway was used for the 2025 edition of the E-Prix.
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
It was won by Germany’s Pascal Wehrlein who drove from ninth on the grid to take his first victory of the year. “We might have been good enough for a podium, somewhere between P3 and P5, if it was a normal race,” admitted the former Sauber F1 driver afterwards.
“Which is still a good result considering that again in qualifying we were unlucky that the car in front of us went into the gravel in turn 12 and put all the dirt on track when I was the next car behind him.
“So it ruined my lap because I was purple and going for the fastest lap. So actually after the qualifying today I thought my bad luck would never end this season. So I take the win because for one time we can also be lucky. Out of the five races we had this year honestly we had a good chance at several races to win it. It’s great to have our first win now.”
Britain’s Oliver Rowland scored just one point with a 10th-placed finish. But the Nissan driver remains the championship leader after the first five rounds of the season, 15 points ahead of second-placed Antonio Felix da Costa. Wehrlein, the defending champion, is third and three points further back.
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