Explained: Full Course Yellow rule removed

The Full Course Yellow rule is being removed for 2025, following consultation between Supercars and Motorsport Australia.

Introduced in 2024, the FCY could be deployed to control the cars whilst vehicles are recovered, or debris is removed from the track.

Similar to Formula One’s Virtual Safety Car, the FCY did not bring a physical car onto the track and did not bunch the field of cars together like the regular Safety Car.

For both full Safety Car and FCY periods, drivers had 15 seconds to reduce their speed to maximum of 80km/h and engage the speed limiter.

The 15-second countdown will remain in place for Safety Car periods in 2025, but the FCY element has been removed.

So, why is it being removed? Supercars.com sat down with category General Manager of Motorsport Tim Edwards to unpack the change.

The background

The FCY made its debut at the season-opening round in Bathurst, where it was used in the Great Race for the first time later in October. The preceding race at Sandown featured five Safety Car periods, leading to confusion and intriguing strategy decisions.

In the lead-up to the Repco Bathurst 1000, teams had expressed concerns over how the FCY could impact the race, given the length of the circuit. Later, it emerged that the maximum speed was initially set to increase from 80 to 120km/h.

Ultimately, there was only one Safety Car period in the 2024 race — a rarity in the modern era, and the fewest since 2013 — but it gave Supercars a chance to analyse the deployment and discuss further changes.

"We all saw at Bathurst last year, teams were nervous about pitting before they ran out of fuel because of the potential time loss, if there was a Full Course Yellow,” Edwards explained.

"If you pitted, and your competitor hadn’t and a FCY came, there was the potential that you could lose four or five minutes if you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, over somebody who got to pit while the FCY was on.

"It really impacted competitors' approach to race strategy. There is risk with the Safety Car as well, but ultimately, it's only ever a risk of track position, because the Safety Car brings you all back together.

"With a FCY on its own, you could have lost two, three, four minutes to your competitor. However, even though the Safety Car starts with the same process and yes, you could lose some time, ultimately you get that back because you are formed behind the Safety Car.”

The impact on strategy

A key motivation to remove the FCY rule was to encourage teams to be aggressive with strategy, rather than stick to the safe option amid the threat of a FCY.

In Bathurst, teams pitted their cars around the same laps, and given much of the race was held in green flag conditions, there was little change and opportunity for a bold strategy call.

"This was about encouraging the teams to be more aggressive with their strategy,” Edwards said.

“The FCY made them very nervous with their strategy choices, particularly at Bathurst. By removing it, teams are likely to have greater strategy options, particularly in the big race.”

The countdown

The 80km/h speed limit remains in place for 2025, and drivers will have to reach the speed, or risk being hit with a penalty.

Edwards said the change marks a better outcome for the racing, with the field to be brought under control by the Safety Car, rather than drive slowly around the track with gaps between cars for extended periods.

"You've got to slow as soon as a Safety Car is deployed, because we can't have cars going past an incident at warp speed,” Edwards said.

"However, you always know you're going to get brought back together, because we're guaranteeing that if there's an incident, there will be a Safety Car at the end of it to bunch the field together.

"You might lose some track position to your competitors, but you're not going be two minutes behind, in which case you're never gonna catch up.”

Could keeping the FCY and increasing the speed limit have been an option?

The field will be controlled at 80km/h before bring brought under control by the Safety Car. Had the FCY rule been retained and the limit increased to 120km/h, there would still be the risk of major time loss.

As the countdown takes place, drivers slowed around different parts of the circuit, and there were some minor nose-to-tail incidents. As ever, there are ongoing reviews of processes, but removing the FCY appeared necessary from an unfair time loss perspective.

"Increasing the speed still doesn't overcome the fact that it's just a huge time loss if you get caught out by the FCY,” Edwards said.

"Changing the speed is more to do with the approach speed of your competitor behind. Effectively, as you're doing the countdown, people slow down at different points, but you've still got that risk of a huge time loss to your competitor if you've already stopped and they stayed out and benefited from a FCY.”

The crucial safety aspect

The removal of the FCY procedure has no impact on safety, given drivers must still reduce speed to the 80km/h limit. Whether it’s a FCY or Safety Car, the process started the same way, with drivers slowing down, and respecting that there was an incident on track.

"The important thing is that, as soon as a FCY or Safety Car is called within the nominated time, which at the moment is 15 seconds, you must be down to a nominated speed. That's the same for either, whether it was a FCY or a Safety Car,” Edwards said.

"In either situation, we are controlling the speed of the cars as quickly as we can. So, that's why there's no impact on safety because the process starts exactly the same. As soon as Race Control is aware of an incident, they control the speed of the cars in either scenario.

"Even if they did happen to have a 'go slow' period for a prolonged period, the Safety Car is still going to be on track, so at the end of it, you are going to be all brought back together behind the Safety Car."

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.