MotoGP has responded to criticism of its yellow flag rule enforcement by announcing a clampdown on safety ahead of the second race of the 2020 season.
Riders were summoned for a briefing on Thursday to be informed that penalties will now be issued for riders who improve their times under yellow flags.
It comes after Fabio Quartararo was able to smash the Jerez lap record last weekend in qualifying while both Alex Rins and Jack Miller were in the gravel trap following falls at the end of the session.
Enforcement of yellow flag penalties has become lax in recent years in MotoGP, with riders able to continue to push despite the danger to marshals, medics and other competitors.
In a statement, MotoGP confirmed the new enforcement plan, saying: “The rulebook has not changed, but the way the rules are to be enforced has been updated.
“This is in order to improve on-track safety for all riders and marshals involved in all three classes of the FIM MotoGP World Championship.
“For a number of years, any improvement in sector time achieved under a double yellow flag has led to the cancellation of a rider’s lap time as a matter of course. From now on, that will now be extended to include single yellow flags.
“A rider can no longer improve their lap time under a yellow flag of any kind, and as soon as a rider enters a sector with a Yellow Flag, their lap time will be cancelled.
“This applies to all free practice and qualifying sessions.”
Pol Espargaro was one of many riders who admitted that the increased enforcement was necessary.
Admitting that the rules have been allowed to become lax of late despite a push for greater safety, Espargaro says penalties will be accepted even when they work against riders.
“We riders weren’t really paying attention to the rules so much, in the past we had some crashes with yellow flags, and last weekend we had a big one with Miller already on the ground and Rins coming very fast,” said Espargaro.
“It could have caused very big damage to Jack or to some marshals.
“It might be unfair at some times, but we’re always asking for the race tracks to be safer everywhere – but we are the first ones who need to apply it and at the minute we’re not doing that. It won’t be fair many times, but until we all respect the rules it must be like that.”
But Jack Miller – one of the riders involved in the incident last weekend that prompted the new enforcement – says he’s not convinced of the new system.
One of a number of riders who expressed concern yesterday that it could dramatically alter qualifying if racers are forced to abandon fast laps, the Australian says it’s going to need further discussion to ensure it works correctly.
“We’ll see about the new rule and I don’t 100% agree with it – there should be a little bit of common sense involved,” said Miller.
“To immediately scrap laps in qualifying given the limited amount of tyres we get isn’t the right idea, especially when you can safely pass a lap on a hot lap.
However, one rider who is certain that there’s still work to be done on the issue is nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi.
Rossi believes that race direction needs to look to F1’s lead in making sure that warnings are fully visible to riders.
“A lot of times we don’t see the yellow flags because they’re very far from the track,” said Rossi.
“Fortunately in MotoGP we have a lot of run-off areas, and at tracks like Jerez you’re always on the edge of the bike so it’s very difficult to see them.
“They need to improve the system and to use light panels like in F1, so that it’s easier for the riders to see them.”
