Explaining F1's black-and-white flag warning for 'professional fouls'

MONZA, Italy -- "Do you give the leading Ferrari at Monza a five-second penalty? Out of the question. Then we'd need a police escort out of here!"

That was the tongue-in-cheek verdict of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on Charles Leclerc being shown a black-and-white flag for his aggressive defensive move on Lewis Hamilton during the Italian Grand Prix which forced the reigning world champion off the road. The move helped Leclerc hold on to the lead en route to Ferrari's first victory on home tarmac since 2010.

The flag was commonly used in F1's past and has been revived under new FIA race director Michael Masi as "the motorsport version of a yellow card", to punish what the Australian calls "bad…