WATCH: Vettel’s chequered flag mix-up in Germany

Sebastian Vettel had hoped for better than fifth in his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim last weekend - but in the end he was lucky not to finish even lower down the order after making an unusual error on the final lap…

After crossing the line at the end of a race it’s customary for drivers to slow down, go off-track and pick up rubber on their tyres - something Sebastian Vettel dutifully did in Germany. There was only one problem: the four-time world champion did it one lap too soon! As you can see in the video above, the mix-up cost Vettel a substantial chunk of time - around 14 seconds had elapsed between him cruising past the phantom chequered flag and then returning to racing speed after what must have been a disarming moment of realisation. But fortunately for the Ferrari man he had enough of a buffer to those behind - led by team mate Kimi Raikkonen - not to lose any positions…