The IndyCar Series has implemented a crucial safety enhancement for the 2025 season, enabling local yellow flag alerts to appear directly in drivers' cockpits during road and street course events.

Previously, the EM Marshaling System utilized LED panels at corner stations where volunteer workers would wave yellow flags and activate corresponding light panels during local incidents. Until 2024, in-cockpit yellow caution lights were exclusively controlled by race control for full-course cautions.

The new system allows corner workers to trigger both trackside LED panels and in-cockpit alerts simultaneously when local cautions occur. This immediate visual warning in the drivers' line of sight via steering wheel lights aims to improve reaction times and safety awareness, particularly for localized incidents that race control may not yet have registered.

This enhancement is especially significant given that local cautions occur more frequently than full-course cautions. The system could prove particularly valuable in preventing cascade incidents, such as the Turn 1 crash at Toronto last year, by providing drivers with earlier warning of developing situations.

The update represents a meaningful step forward in IndyCar's ongoing commitment to driver safety, creating multiple layers of visual warnings for potentially hazardous track conditions.

Related Articles

Previous Articles