Also, and separately, another word about the Gentleman's Yellow Flag (note the highlighted bits):
The Rule book says:
If the race leader believes the race would benefit from it, he is allowed to regroup the field by enforcing a yellow flag situation, and thus allowing for some closer racing. There are restrictions to the use of the Gentleman's Yellow Flag:
- it can only be used once per race
- it cannot be used in the first 2 laps or the last 2 laps of the race
- only the driver in the lead can call a yellow flag
- yellow flags are NOT compulsory and no comments should be made if no yellow flag has been waved
- you can only call a yellow flag when you're in a comfortable position to do so. You definitely cannot use it to save you from a difficult situation, for example if 2 or more drivers are fighting closely for the lead
- other drivers cannot request a yellow flag (they may sometimes discreetly suggest one. For example, if the leader is closely followed, the driver in 2nd place could weave from left to right to let him know that he would not oppose a yellow flag. The final decision remains the leader's choice)
Yellow Flag procedure:
-
to signal a yellow flag, the leader of the race will significantly slow down, weaving from left to right as if warming cold tires and, if available, by announcing it via headset
- overtaking is prohibited while the yellow flag is being waved. If an overtake took place after the beginning of the yellow flag but before the involved driver(s) noticed it, common sense should prevail to determine who gets to be in front
- To save time, a lapped driver will not be given a chance to 'unlap' himself, but does not need to drop to the back either
-
when ALL the drivers have had a chance to rejoin the pack, the leader will slowly increase his pace again, going back to racing speed by the end of the lap
- no driver is allowed to overtake until he crosses the finish line
So if it isn't clear enough, if the leader decides to use the GYF, he should then wait for everyone to catch up, stopping his car
completely if necessary so we don't waste time. Once EVERYONE has rejoined, then we can restart slowly and go full speed when the next lap starts.
Still not sure what happened in race 1, anyway...