Kimi Raikkonen has welcomed the reimplementation of the black and white flag to Formula 1 after its first use in Belgium.
The signal waved as the driver passes the start/finish line acts a warning from stewards about driving standards and at Spa, Pierre Gasly received it for moving under braking.
Its return came after a meeting between FIA race director Michael Masi and teams at Spa, with the 2007 world champion pondering why it ever went away.
“We used to get it when we raced in go-karts,” Raikkonen said ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
“It’s a normal thing, but it had never been used in F1 for some odd reason. The flag was designed for that, so they have now woken up to the fact we actually have that flag.
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“I think it’s good because in a lot of things it’s crazy to give a penalty straight away but that’s only what they can do in their own rules. But we also have the flags and for sure it wakes up people, if you then still do something, then it’s fair enough.
“You’re warned once and if you do it again you get the penalty. The flag has been there probably for 100 years, so use it! We’ll see how it works out.”
One potential negative that was put to Raikkonen is that drivers may now see that flag as an excuse to perhaps do one offence with the belief that it won’t get a penalty.
“It depends on what you’re doing,” he responded. “Small things you can get away with one hundred times, others will get you a penalty the first time.
“If you have some complete stupidity you’re obviously not going to have the warning flag, you’ll get the penalty, but for small things, it’s there.”
