Rain starting during a MotoGP race? Nothing unusual and nowadays no longer a problem at all. After all, the flag-to-flag rule allows the riders in such a case to come into the pit lane as soon as the white flag is waved and switch to the spare motorcycle with rain tires. The race can then be resumed immediately without losing much time. These flag-to-flag races are often absolute highlights. After all, nobody knows when the perfect time to change motorcycles will be. Anyone can turn into a hero or an idiot.
But that wasn’t always the case. The flag-to-flag rule was only introduced in the 2005 season. Before that, races that started in dry conditions and were then caught in rain had to be regularly interrupted by a red flag in 56 years of World Championship history when the conditions were no longer acceptable for slick tires. Changing motorcycles or tires was not allowed at that time. The MotoGP stars returned to the pits and adapted to the new conditions there, and the race management communicated the remaining race distance. There was a second grid phase, and only then did the restart take place. Often more than 30 minutes after the interruption. The last time this happened was in early summer 2004. Motorsport-Magazin.com looks back on this historic event 20 years later.
June 6th, 2004, Mugello. Valentino Rossi and World Championship rival Sete Gibernau are engaged in a thrilling duel for victory in the Italian Grand Prix, which started under glorious sunshine. As the 23-lap race enters the final third, the skies suddenly open up over the Autodromo del Mugello. Within a few moments, the conditions on the track become increasingly worse, so that the race directors have no choice but to interrupt the Italian GP in its most exciting phase with a red flag. After all, no risks should be taken on the high-speed Mugello circuit, as Shinja Nakano had suffered a serious crash on the start-finish line just a few laps earlier in the same race after a tire burst, and it was only by sheer luck that the Kawasaki driver escaped unscathed and without major injuries.
As the riders returned to the pits, the rain began to ease again. This led to chaotic minutes, as the MotoGP stars were completely free to make their own decisions for the restart according to the rules. Rain tires, intermediates or risking slicks? There were no restrictions, neither tire choice nor fuel or setup were specified. The only thing to note was that all decisions were final, as there would not be a second interruption due to changing weather conditions. The remaining race distance would be six laps, as not all riders had completed the 18th lap at the time of the red flag. The starting grid was based on the interim results at the end of the 17th lap.
The restart itself was to take place after a second grid phase at 3 p.m. When the drivers left the pit lane and completed the reconnaissance lap, the rain had already completely stopped. The asphalt was still quite wet in some places, but overall every driver decided to start again with slicks. The problem: During the second warm-up lap before the restart, it suddenly started to drizzle again. Aprilia driver Jeremy McWilliams gambled, drove to the pits and switched to the spare bike with rain tires, everyone else tackled the restart with slicks. Rossi started on pole position, Gibernau and Max Biaggi completed the first row.
What followed were six completely crazy and chaotic laps. The MotoGP stars carefully felt their way through the first corners. Pole sitter Rossi fell back, while Norick Abe shot into the lead from seventh place on the grid. Biaggi and Alex Barros also passed the Yamaha star, but he was able to fend off an attack from Gibernau. When the riders then entered the first sector of the track for the second time, it was already raining quite heavily. Greater caution was required, leaning into the corners was completely impossible. Pramac driver Ruben Xaus had nothing to lose, attacked and within a few corners briefly took the lead from Troy Bayliss. There were numerous position swaps.
At the start of the third lap, Bayliss took the lead. At this point, no fewer than eight riders were fighting for P1 in the leading group, including the otherwise barely competitive Aprilia rider Shane Byrne. But just halfway through the race, the rain stopped again. Rossi got serious, rocketed to first place and immediately distanced himself by a few tenths. In the last two laps, Gibernau and Biaggi also fought their way back to their original positions, but were no longer able to threaten the runaway Rossi. The latter thus took his second win of the season, having previously only won his Yamaha debut in South Africa.
While the rain interruption had no effect on the final standings, at least at the front, there were some changes behind. Xaus managed to finish in fifth place and was the big winner, having improved by four positions. The Ducati riders Bayliss (P4) and Loris Capirossi (P8) improved by two places, and Byrne even gained three positions. Marco Melandri, on the other hand, became the big loser of the 2004 Italian Grand Prix. Although he was in fifth place at the time of the red flag, he ultimately only reached the finish in ninth place. Colin Edwards (P12) also dropped four positions, while Alex Barros (P6) and the German Alex Hofmann (P14) each lost two places.
Why did MotoGP introduce the flag-to-flag rule in 2005?
After June 6, 2004, there was to be no more MotoGP races that had to be interrupted due to rain. For the 2005 season, the rule-keepers of the premier class introduced the so-called ‘flag-to-flag rule’. The impetus for this was actually provided by the MotoGP riders themselves, who wanted to avoid interrupting the race in the future. They were often unhappy with the time chosen by the race management for the interruption. Some riders wanted to drive longer, some would have liked to have come to the pits earlier.
Since a second motorcycle per driver was waiting in the pit lane anyway, the idea of changing bikes to rain tires was born. In future, the race management only had to use the white flag to signal when a motorcycle change was allowed, and then each driver could decide for themselves when they wanted to come in. After all, the drivers have the best feeling for the conditions on the race track and can calculate for themselves which tire compound they need now. In addition, the risk of changing early or staying out for a long time can be rewarded. The perfect example: Brad Binder’s victory in the 2021 Austrian GP. Without the flag-to-flag rule, such a victory would not have been possible.
If you want to know exactly how such flag-to-flag races work in MotoGP, then we have the right explanatory article for you here: