What is the MotoGP Safety Car?

Safety Car: A high-performance car that follows the MotoGP riders at the start of every race, ready to respond the moment something goes wrong.

If you’ve watched Formula 1, you’ll know the safety car as the car that appears in the middle of a race, slows everyone down and bunches the field up behind it. MotoGP has a safety car too, but it does a very different job. It never leads the riders during racing. Instead, it follows them at the point of a race when trouble is most likely: the start.

When will you see the safety car?

Every race begins with the safety car tucked in behind the field.

First comes the sighting lap, when the riders leave the pit lane and ride to the starting grid, and the safety car is out on track for that too. Then comes the warm-up lap, when riders heat their tyres and brakes on one more lap back to the grid. This time the safety car follows right behind them, overtaking anyone who is going slowly. When the riders line up, the safety car takes its place at the back of the grid. Only once it is in position does an official at the rear wave a green flag to show the grid is ready to start.

The safety car also sets a deadline. On the warm-up lap, any rider who reaches the pit lane entry after the safety car must go into the pit lane and start the race from the pit lane exit, behind the whole field. Falling behind the car is an expensive mistake.

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Why does it follow the first lap?

When the lights go out, the safety car follows behind the riders for the whole of the first lap, together with a medical car. The opening lap is when the entire field is packed together through the first few corners, so one mistake can bring down several riders at once. With the cars right behind the pack, help is never far away.

Once that first lap is done, the safety car’s job in the race is over and it leaves the racing to the riders.

It works across the rest of the weekend too. On each day of a Grand Prix, before any action begins, the safety car inspects the circuit, checking that the track is clear and that the marshal posts are staffed and ready.

So what happens when there’s a crash mid-race?

This is where MotoGP really differs from F1. There is no slow-moving queue behind a car. Race Direction (the officials who run the event) has two main tools instead.

For most crashes, a rider slides off into the gravel away from the racing line, and the marshals (the officials in orange overalls) show yellow flags at that part of the track. A yellow flag tells riders there is danger ahead: they must slow down and must not overtake in that section. The marshals recover the rider and the bike while the race carries on at full speed everywhere else.

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If the situation is too dangerous for that (bikes or debris left on the track, oil on the surface, or a rider who needs treatment where they fell), Race Direction shows a red flag. The race is stopped immediately and every rider must slow down and return to the pit lane. Depending on how much of the race has been completed, it is then either restarted or a result is declared.

What about rain?

Rain doesn’t bring out the safety car either. When rain starts to fall, marshals show white flags. In a MotoGP race, white flags mean riders are allowed to come into the pit lane and swap to a second bike already fitted with wet tyres. This is known as a flag-to-flag race. If the rain becomes too heavy to race safely, the red flag comes out instead.

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The safety car and restarts

When a stopped race is restarted, the safety car is back on duty. It follows the riders on the lap to the grid and again on the warm-up lap before the restart, and on the warm-up lap the same rule applies: fall behind it and you start from the pit lane. MotoGP also uses the safety car in some red flag situations to inspect the track before racing resumes.

Who supplies the safety car?

The safety cars are provided by BMW M, which has been the Official Car of MotoGP since 1999. It isn’t just one car but a fleet of high-performance models fitted with roof-mounted warning lights, and the lead car is replaced with a newer model every few seasons.

Quick Takeaways

• MotoGP’s safety car never leads the riders during a race. It is not used to slow down or bunch up the field the way it is in Formula 1.
• It is on track for the sighting lap, then follows the riders on the warm-up lap and for the whole first lap of every race, alongside a medical car on that first lap.
• A rider who falls behind it on the warm-up lap has to start the race from the pit lane.
• Mid-race danger is handled with yellow flags (slow down, no overtaking) or a red flag (the race is stopped).
• BMW M has supplied MotoGP’s safety cars since 1999.