The Over-Zealous Use of the Red-Flag
Two-part posts are not very common here. I think over the near-fifteen years I have had this site, I can count how many two-part posts I’ve had on one hand. As luck would have it, today is the second part to Wednesday’s post. As Donald Davidson would say, “this is a two-parter”.
I mentioned Wednesday that I had been going through Facebook over the weekend, and saw a very good question posed in one of the IndyCar groups I belong to. It was short and to the point; “What change would you like t see in IndyCar in 2024?”
Of course, few bothered to read the full question and they responded with answers that would’ve taken years to put into place, and were also just a little absurd. Some suggested multiple chassis, or more international races. Few suggestions could have been put into place by the season-opener at St. Petersburg on March 10.
On Wednesday, I said that two things immediately came to mind when I saw the question. One was the topic for Wednesday – get rid of the snake or dragon-move in the closing laps of the Indianapolis 500. I went into my reasons there. If you haven’t read it, scroll down. I also said I would discuss my other desired change today. It’s a topic that won’t surprise many long-term readers of this site.
Ever since the 2014 Indianapolis 500 was red-flagged on Lap 192, to give the race a chance to finish under green – it has become commonplace to throw the red flag whenever there is a handful of laps to go. The thought is to give the fans a chance to see the race finish under green, rather than seeing the cars running slow speeds under the yellow to take the checkered flag.
We have seen red-flags thrown frequently in the name of giving fans a dramatic finish. After over a century of seeing races occasionally finish under the yellow, fans suddenly decided in the last few years that they were entitled to see a race finish under green. Out of the blue, it was taboo to allow a race to finish under the caution flag.
I know I’m not only old, but I am old-school. That being the case, I’ve always through there were only three reasons to ever throw a red flag; (a) when a driver requires immediate medical attention, and emergency vehicles need to be on the track, (b) inclement weather makes racing unsafe and (c) when repairs need to be made to the track for safety. I don’t think a red-flag should ever be used simply to improve the show. Sometimes races finish under yellow. It happens.
Last year, things got ridiculous near the end of the Indianapolis 500. Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood collided in Turn Two, with Kirkwood losing a wheel (that went over the stands) and eventually going upside down. I believe there was either damage to the catch fence or the SAFER barrier. My old age memory fades sometime and I’m too lazy to look it up. Whatever the case, repairs needed to be made to the track, so I see that as a justifiable red flag.
The other two, however – one on Lap 191 and another on Lap 198 were not justifiable…or necessary. They were simply to spice up the show. The one on Lap 198 was particularly unnecessary, because it set up a one-lap sprint to the checkered flag. I felt like this was also inviting trouble. It seemed like an accident waiting to happen. Fortunately, there were no accidents, but turning bunched-up cars loose on a one-lap sprint to win the Indianapolis 500 seemed like a recipe for disaster. Just because there was no disaster, doesn’t mean there won’t be the next time.
The conspiracy theorists out there loved to point to the fact that Roger Penske owns the track. Roger Penske’s driver, Josef Newgarden was in second place behind Ganassi driver Marcus Ericsson – winner of the previous year’s 500 mile race. It’s well-understood that whoever is in the lead on a restart is a sitting duck. With only one lap after the green flag, everyone knew that Newgarden would pass Ericsson and most likely win the race. That’s exactly what happened.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I believe there was any conspiracy against Ericsson. But I hate giving ammunition to people that do look for conspiracies.
Red flags have been used against Roger Penske’s drivers also. Remember in Race One at Belle Isle in 2021? Will Power led 37 Laps and was well on his way to winning, But a late-race yellow with a handful of laps to go, made race officials decided it was a good idea to throw the red flag. It had been a boring race, with Power dominating the race, so race officials decided to spice things up and throw the caution flag. The problem was, Power’s car got too hot sitting on the hot pavement and his engine would not re-fire. The rest of the field drove past him and took the green flag with him still sitting in the pits. Power finished twentieth in a race he probably would’ve won, or at least climbed the podium, had race control not decided to spice things up.
Red-flags should be used sparingly and for the reasons I mentioned only. It is for safety. Period. It was never intended to manufacture drama or to manipulate race results. No one will ever convince me that racing has been improved with the over-zealous use of the red-flag.
What I discussed on Wednesday and again today are the two immediate things that came to mind when I first saw the question about changes to 2024. Some minor changes occurred to me later, but those two are immediately what jumped out at me. What about you? Almost all comments agreed with what I said about the dragon-move. What about overuse of the red-flag? Am I just an old many yelling at a cloud, or am I making sense? It certainly seems sensible to me, but I’m the one writing it.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
January 26, 2024 at 4:14 am
Totally agree. Red for those issues you mention only.
January 26, 2024 at 5:19 am
Completely agree. Last year after the race I heard a lot of people saying the fans won because of race contol’s decision. I don’t know which fans won, but it wasn’t the race fans.
January 26, 2024 at 10:06 am
I would think that would depend on which race fans you ask. Though I don’t care for the use of red flags to facilitate a green flag finish either, it is not hard to find genuine fans of Indycar who like the practice. I find that younger fans and folks who are also short track racing fans tend to like it, though these opinions are not unanimous in those groups.
The fact that the conclusion of last year’s race drew nearly 1 million more viewers than the race-long average is not likely to discourage the use of late red flags, unfortunately.
January 26, 2024 at 5:34 am
I think that you have identified a problem, but not the main problem.
If it were up to me, I’d limit the use of the red flag to the circumstances that you proposed. With that said, I’m also OK with throwing a red flag late in the race in an attempt to guarantee a green-flag finish. The main problem, IMO, is that IndyCar has not defined clear criteria defining when race officials will throw a red flag to ensure a green-flag finish, and when they won’t. Instead, adhering to a tradition that goes back to the very beginning of the series, they make it up as they go along.
Last year’s 500 demonstrated the problems with this. When the last accident occurred, race control dithered. If they had thrown the red flag promptly, there would have been two laps remaining after the restart, which would have given Marcus Ericsson a better chance at the win.
It also makes the outcome appear arbitrary and manipulated. That’s a problem in any situation, but it’s a bigger problem when the series is owned by one of the contestants. Now, I agree that there was no conspiracy here to hand the win to Penske’s driver. Even so, there’s a reason why, for example, judges are supposed to recuse themselves in cases in which they have an interest: it may, consciously or subconsciously, color their judgement. In this case, people working for Penske were making decisions on the fly that benefited Penske. Not a good look, even if they were doing their best to be impartial. Better to define the rules clearly ex ante and then to apply those rules.
January 26, 2024 at 10:28 am
I really think the circumstances of the final caution last year dictated the final red flag call, and also caused the dithering that cost the race an additional lap of green. Had that caution not occurred on a restart, or had the lead not changed on the restart, then the red flag may well have never been thrown.
Should these circumstances matter? There is certainly some inherent satisfaction to the logic of adhering to a codified set of red flag rules, but would that override feelings of dissatisfaction if the rules end a race under yellow in an unappealing way such as may have occurred last year?
Personally, I would support codifying the red flag procedures, but I understand the reasoning behind last year’s red flag decision because it was an especially remarkable set of circumstances.
January 26, 2024 at 7:08 pm
The procedure for codifying these procedures seems pretty straightforward to me.
Step 1: What’s the minimum number of green flag laps that you’ll need following a restart in order to justify throwing a red? Let’s say the answer to that is one.
Step 2: What’s the minimum number of yellow flag laps that you’ll need following a restart before you throw the green flag. Last year, they went with one, which I think was a very poor decision, because it meant that restart happened before drivers had a chance to warm their tires properly and get the gunk off of them, but that’s the kind of decision that gets made under extreme time pressure. We all know that if there’s ever a big accident under these circumstances, they’ll start requiring at least two yellow flag laps following a restart before throwing a green (just as we all know that if a car crashes into the attenuator while doing the dragon, going below the pit-in line will be outlawed the next day), so let’s not wait for that to happen and say that we need at least two yellow-flag laps before going green.
Step 3: What’s the latest point within a lap at which you can throw the red and have enough time for the cars to get into pit lane? I’d say this is about halfway down the backstretch. If the red gets thrown after that, the cars at the lead would need an extra lap before they could get into pit line safely for the lineup.
Putting all of that together, the critical point is about halfway through Lap 197. If there’s a yellow before that point, throw a red and bring cars into pit lane; you’ll have three or more laps remaining so you can have two yellow-flag laps following the restart and at least one green flag lap after that. If there’s a yellow after that point, the race finishes under yellow.
In last year’s race, the lead changed in the few seconds between the second restart and when the yellow was thrown for the final time, but I don’t see why that would have any effect on this procedure. As soon as the yellow was thrown, race control was going to have to figure out who was in what position at the moment that the yellow was thrown, and they were going to have to do that regardless of whether they decided to throw a red flag following the yellow, or not. In one case, the determination of who was where at the time that the yellow was thrown determines the order of the restart, and in the other case, it determines the final finishing order (which I believe happens pretty routinely in NASCAR), but I don’t see why it would matter when deciding *whether* to throw the red.
January 26, 2024 at 1:45 pm
I completely agree with you George! Well said!
January 26, 2024 at 4:18 pm
As Indycar fans age, it’s common to hear questions about where the young fans are? Although I realize why traditionalists don’t like the “artificiality” of the red flag, or whatever Nascar calls it, I think fans who are new to Indycar would be mystified that a race could even end under a yellow. It’s like a football game ending under a time-out. I think many people now, and certainly the so-called “casual” fan expects a race to end under competition.
January 26, 2024 at 4:28 pm
I think a more accurate comparison to finishing under the yellow, is a football game ending with the winning team in possession of the ball with a minute and a half to go – and taking a knee three plays in a row to run out the clock. Just like with racing…it’s not a very exciting ending, but it happens. Not every football game ends in a last-second TD pass. Not every race ends with a photo finish.
January 28, 2024 at 7:09 pm
“taking a knee” is a team decision.
red flags are race control’s.