Novel idea to avoid ‘grumpy old Justin Bieber’ waving F1 chequered flag

After “grumpy old Justin Bieber” waved the chequered flag in Las Vegas without a smile in sight, Richard Bradley has proposed a “sweepstake” that would see genuine fans win the honour.

At the end of a celebrity-filled weekend, arguably the biggest line-up ever seen on the grid, it was two-time Grammy winner Bieber who waved the flag as Max Verstappen clinched win number 18 of the season.

Dressed all in black barring his white shoes, he looked anything but enthused about the job at hand.

A sweepstake raffle to give one ‘passionate’ fan the honour

Social media didn’t appreciate the moment either, with fans arguing it should’ve been anyone from Elvis to Rihanna to Patrick Dempsey.

With a bunch of F-bombs and the consensus being he looked bored, the On Track GP podcast discussed the flag waver with podcast host Joe Ashman calling him “grumpy old Justin Bieber”.

2015 Le Mans winner Bradley wanted to know if he’d just come from a funeral.

“He was dressed all in black, had he come straight from a funeral or something? Mate, it’s a Las Vegas Grand Prix,” he said.

Instead of using celebrities to wave the chequered flag, given they already get enough airtime on Grand Prix weekends, Bradley has proposed Formula 1 set up a sweepstake that will allow a fan to win the honour.

And then at least we’ll see a “really passionate fan waving it like crazy.”

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The Briton explained: “There are enough celebrities in Formula 1, we get that they want the celebrity factor and you just need to watch the grid walks and stuff like that.

“And no one really cares about who waves the checkered flag. And when you see someone like Justin Bieber, who clearly doesn’t want to be that, that just takes the shine off of the excitement for what Formula 1 is.

“What you want is people who are truly passionate.

“I’m sure Formula 1 must work with a charity somewhere, I’m not sure who it is, but why don’t they have a sweepstakes where anybody who’s bought a general admission or grandstand ticket is allowed to enter a raffle for five or 10 pounds.

“Then your name or number will get drawn out of a hat, and you get to wave the checkered flag.

“And all the money goes to the charity of Formula 1 association. Then you’d get a really passionate fan waving it like crazy.

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