The Red Flag

A red flag stops the session altogether — shown for a serious crash, dangerous debris, or conditions (usually heavy rain) too dangerous to continue. Cars slow immediately and return to the pit lane, and the clock may be paused.

A red-flagged race can later be restarted, and the order for that restart is taken from the last completed lap before the stoppage, not from the chaotic moment the flag flew. A red flag also hands teams a free opportunity to work on the cars — including, often, fitting fresh tyres without losing track position, which can completely reset the strategic picture.

Two ways to go again

Standing restart

Cars line up on the grid in the restart order and race away from a stationary start, just like the original start.

Rolling restart

Cars form up behind the Safety Car and are released to race when the green flag flies, used when a standing start would be unsafe.

If conditions never improve enough to resume, the race can be declared finished where it stood, with the classification taken from a previous lap. When only part of the distance has been run, reduced championship points may be awarded — so a washed-out race is not always worth a full haul.