Lewis Hamilton was cruising 18 seconds ahead of his second place team mate, Nico Rosberg, finishing lap 55 of 56 when he caught a glimpse of the checkered flag one lap too early. Hamilton said that "I thought I was starting my last lap and I glanced up and saw something waving and realized it was the checkered flag. I lifted and lost about a second and a half but the team said 'No, no, keep going.'... It was very, very strange." Hamilton went on to finish the final scheduled lap despite the race marshal's mistake.
According to article 43.2 of Formula 1 regulations, if the checkered flag is waved early, the results go back to the last completed lap before the flag was waved, in this case, lap 54. No one in the top 10, really the only positions that matter in the long run, was affected by this rule. The only change in positions that happened on one of the last two laps that weren't counted was Kamui Kobayashi's overtake on Jules Bianchi for 17th place in the last lap.
Even though this small mistake didn't affect anyone in the points positions this race, in many other races where the top 10 are closer together and more overtakes happen in the final laps, this early checkered flag could have had more of an effect on the championship table and could have won or lost someone the drivers or constructors championship. This mistake could also lead to stricter marshal rules or management, just in case there is a closer race and someone makes the same mistake again.
Here are the official race results kept by the FIA (courtesy of F1.com) :
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