In auto racing, what is meant when a blue flag is waved?

Question

THANKS!

Answer 1

This is the "courtesy" flag or the "move over" flag. It is the only flag that is optional. A driver may, at his discretion, ignore this flag.

It is displayed to a car (or group of cars) to let them know that the leaders are coming up behind them and that should be courteous and move over to let the leaders race.

Again, this flag is optional... However, NASCAR takes a dim view of anyone who repeatedly and without a darn good reason ignores it.

Answer 2

Different organizations have different interpretations of the blue flag.  I believe in NASCAR it can not be ignored, in F1 it can, if two cars are racing for position.  In motorcycles, well it depends, again, on which organization you're running with.  But the bottom line is... a waving blue flag means a faster racer is behind you.

Answer 3

As has been told to me in many a driver's meeting, it's the "There's A Race Going On And You're Not In It" flag.  And in most cases, it's not optional.  When you're given the flag it's to inform you of two basic situations... one, you're about to be overtaken by a much faster car (such as in sports racing where you have multiple classes on the track at one time), or that you are about to be overtaken by someone that is actually ahead of you on track.

The flag is informational, but once given, it is also an expectation that the car receiving the flag will give way to allow the other car safely by (give room at an apex in a turn or such), and that it will be done within a few turns.

Constantly being given the passing flag and ignoring it can result in a Black Flag being given (either the Black Stick warning, or outright Black Flagged), or other penalties imposed by the stewards post race.

It's rare that you see it ignored in racing since trying to keep someone behind you in this situation will just slow both of you down, benefitting no one and ultimately risking a penalty.  Though, in a case where it's given to two cars in the midst of their own fight, it can often take longer to get by (since the cars fighting it out will be concerned about given an extra opening to the other car they are battling with).

Most tracks use an all blue flag, while some use a blue flag with a yellow diagonal line for this flag singal.

Answer 4

It's actually blue with a diagonal yellow stripe on it...it's the "you're slower than a grandma on the interstate so move over" flag.

Answer 5

it tells the driver that someone is about to pass them and to let them pass so they don't cause an accident

Answer 6

The blue flag is the "move over" flag. It is usually waved at lapped traffic to warn them the leaders are passing them. Contrary to the above statement, this flag can not be ignored. Drivers who do not move over get black flagged.

Answer 7

It is the "Get Your Sorry @ss Out of The ******* Way!" flag. Enough said? :-)