After unanimous request from teams and with immediate effect at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia, Race Direction can now display the White Flag during the Warm Up lap. The White Flag is the one used to signal to riders that they can come into the pits to change machines if rain falls in a race that was declared dry.
Now, if the White Flag is shown on the Warm Up lap, riders are able to come into the pitlane at the end of that Warm Up lap to make weather-related tyre changes – or change machine like in a flag-to-flag – and then start the race from the pitlane WITHOUT receiving a Ride Through penalty.
The White Flag will only be shown on the Warm Up lap if there’s rain and the race has already been declared dry.
If the race has already been declared wet, the White Flag will not be shown. Riders who chose to come into pitlane to change to slicks will still receive a Ride Through penalty because there are no safety concerns with wet tyres on a drying track.