Red Flag Pit Stop Time Penalties

The Red Flag Pit Stop Time Penalties (RFTP) were a set of Time Penalties that drivers could optionally choose to receive if they decided to perform a pit-stop under red-flag conditions.

History

For the first 9 seasons of FL, under red-flag conditions, no team or driver was allowed to perform any sort of changes or maintenance to cars under red-flag conditions, with the notable exception of being allowed to put on Wet-Weather Tires in place of Dry-Weather Tires if a race had been red-flagged due to weather conditions.

During Season 9, the EotLP GP Commission began reviewing the Sporting Regulations, to see if changes were needed. They made the discovery that tire failure and other preventable maintenance issues were the leading causes of Red Flags. To add an aspect of strategy to Red Flags, and potentially another aspect of intrigue for viewers, they proposed that Teams should be allowed to perform maintenance or Tire Changes under any Red Flag Conditions, but in exchange would receive a 5 second time penalty. This change was accepted, and implemented from Season 10 onwards

Details

According to the 253 Update to the Formula Lego Sporting Regulations,

While a Race has been officially placed under Red-Flag Conditions for a reason other than weather, and until Green-Flag racing is once again re-instated by Race Control, any car on the grid may undergo any changes legal in a regular Pit Stop. Any car that undergoes changes by, or at the request of its team will have 5 (five) seconds added to their total race time, which may affect finishing position. While a Race has been officially placed under Red-Flag Conditions for Weather Related Reasons, and until Green-Flag racing is once again re-instated by Race Control, any car on the grid may undergo a full Tire-Set Change from Dry Weather Tires (Cp#1, Cp#2, Cp#3, Cp#4, Cp#5) to Wet-Weather Tires (Cp#D, Cp#W). Any car on the grid may also undergo any other changes legal in a regular Pit Stop. Any car that undergoes changes besides switching from Dry Weather Tires to Wet Weather Tires by, or at the request of its team will have 5 (five) seconds added to their total race time, which may affect finishing position.

In 256, along with other Time-Penalty adjustments, RFTPs became eligible to be served during pitstops.