Why Were Flags Originally Used In Motorsport?

Alongside crash helmets, flame decals and burning rubber tracks, one of the most common sights at any motorsport event is a set of racing flags, picked up by the organiser at a convenient specialist store.

A set of racing flags is fairly universal, although rather unusually there is no official universal meaning for the colours outside of FIA-sanctioned events such as Formula 1. 

This means that, for example, a black flag can mean disqualification, or it can be an instruction to immediately return to the pits for mechanical issues or the announcement of a drive-through penalty, depending on the particular rules that the event is following.

Despite the rise of sensors, cockpit lights and signalling systems throughout most modern race tracks, flags are still used in motorsport. Why were they used in the first place and why do they continue to be used now?

From Railways To Racing 

The origin of racing signal flags comes from the early era of the British and American railway networks before the development of more modern semaphore signals.

Before the telegraph and telephone, railway navigators or “navvies” had a series of navigation flags similar to the semaphore flags used at sea in order to aid with navigating trains in dangerous situations.

The main flag colours are remarkably similar to those used today:

• Red flags mean stop.

• Yellow flags mean to proceed at low speeds and with extreme caution.

• Green flags mean to proceed but with caution.

• White flags mean to proceed normally.

• Blue flags were used to mark railway equipment that should not be moved.

Early racing flags would follow a similar, simplistic approach. White flags were used at the start of a race and red flags at the end, before the latter was replaced by the now-ubiquitous chequered flag and the former was typically replaced by the use of a national flag.

The First International Code

Exactly when the first standardised flag codes emerged was unclear, given the somewhat ad hoc nature of a lot of early motorsport, but it is known that by 1911’s Syracuse New York State Fair, there was what was described as an “International Code” of flag signals used in motorsport.

These used the same five flags as the navvies, along with the chequered flag, and their use started to more closely resemble more modern motorsport championships:

• Red flags meant clear the course, similar to the race stoppages today.

• White flags meant “stop for consultation” similar to how some race events use black flags to report to the pits.

• Yellow flags meant to stop instantly, similar in spirit albeit not in practice to the red flag or the black flag in FIA events.

• Green flags worked like the NASCAR or Indycar white flag in announcing the final lap of the race.

• Chequered flags meant the end of the race.

• Blue flags were similar to modern yellow flags in that they advised caution due to an accident on the track.

Eventually, a series of standardised flags became normalised, and by 1937 the modern interpretation of flag rules with blue flags used to signal that a car is attempting to pass a driver would be used in that year’s Indianapolis 500 race.

Flags are still used today partly out of tradition, partly as a contingency if digital signal technology breaks, but mostly because they are still a very effective way of quickly conveying information.