MotoGP has made a small but important rule change to help stop long yellow flag delays during timed sessions. Starting from this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, riders who crash in the last three minutes of qualifying will not be allowed to rejoin the session. The same rule will also apply to the Friday afternoon Practice, which decides who goes straight to Qualifying 2 on Saturday.

This change follows an incident earlier this month in Mandalika, when Alex Rins crashed late in Q2 and tried to continue. Because he stayed in the gravel for too long, yellow flags were shown for the majority of the final moments, stopping other riders from finishing their laps. Crashes late in sessions happen quite often, and yellow flags can ruin fast laps for others. MotoGP hopes this new rule will make things fairer and safer by reducing yellow flag time.

There are also two small changes to the rules. Riders can no longer warm up their tyres by weaving side to side in the pit lane, and they must now show that they are about to enter the pits by putting out a leg as a signal.

Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo said the hardest part would be breaking the habit of zig-zagging. He explained that the officials think it is unsafe, but he has done it for 15 years without any problems. He said it is part of his routine, so sometimes he might still do it without thinking. Although he does not fully agree with the rule, he said it is not a big issue for him.

Overall, the new rules are designed to make MotoGP sessions smoother and safer, even if some riders need a bit of time to get used to the changes.