Race Control Notifications
Get instant notifications whenever the race director sends a message — flag changes, safety car deployments, penalties, incident reports, and more.
This blueprint listens to the Race Control sensor and forwards messages to any notification service you choose. All filtering is optional, so you can start simple and refine over time.
For notifications to arrive at the right moment, configure the Live Delay to match your broadcast offset.
Import the Blueprint
Or go to Settings > Automations & Scenes > Blueprints and import manually using the URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Nicxe/f1_sensor/main/blueprints/f1_officials_race_control_notifications.yaml
Requirements
- F1 Sensor integration installed and configured with live data enabled
- At least one notification service available in Home Assistant (mobile app, persistent notification, TTS, etc.)
Step-by-step Setup
Step 1 — Create an automation from the blueprint
- Go to Settings > Automations & Scenes > Blueprints
- Find F1 Sensor - Race Control Notifications
- Click Create Automation
Step 2 — Configure Source
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Race Control Sensor | Select the *_race_control sensor from your F1 Sensor integration |
| Require Active Session Phase | Enable this to only receive notifications during specific session phases |
| Session Status Sensor | Required if you enable phase filtering — select the *_session_status sensor |
| Active Session Phases | Which phases should trigger notifications. Defaults to live and suspended |
The Session Status Sensor is only needed when Require Active Session Phase is turned on. If you leave it off, notifications arrive for all messages regardless of session state.
Step 3 — Session Scope (Optional)
Limit notifications to specific session types. This is useful if you only want to receive race control messages during the Race and Qualifying sessions, while ignoring Practice sessions.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Current Session Filter | When enabled, notifications are only sent during the selected session types. Disabled by default |
| Current Session Sensor | Select the *_current_session sensor. Required when the filter is enabled |
| Allowed Current Sessions | Which session types should send notifications. Defaults to all sessions |
When this filter is enabled, the automation checks the Current Session sensor to decide whether to send a notification. If the current session is not in the allowed list, the notification is suppressed regardless of other filter settings.
Step 4 — Configure Filters (Optional)
All filters are optional and collapsed by default. Leave them empty to receive every race control message.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Allowed Flags | Only notify for specific flag types. Leave empty to allow all flags |
| Allowed Categories | Comma or semicolon-separated category names. Leave empty to allow all categories |
| Include Keywords | Only notify when the message contains at least one of these words |
| Exclude Keywords | Skip notifications when the message contains any of these words |
Available flag values:
| Flag | When it appears |
|---|---|
CLEAR | Track is clear, normal racing conditions |
GREEN | Session start or restart |
YELLOW | Yellow flag, caution on track |
DOUBLE YELLOW | Double yellow, significant hazard |
VSC | Virtual Safety Car deployed |
SC | Safety Car deployed |
RED | Red flag, session stopped |
BLUE | Blue flag shown to a driver being lapped |
WHITE | Slow vehicle on track |
BLACK | Driver disqualified |
CHEQUERED | Session finished |
Step 5 — Configure Notifications
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Title Prefix | Text prepended to the notification title. Defaults to F1 Race Control |
| Include Fields in Message | Extra details added below the main message text |
| Cooldown (seconds) | Pause between notifications to reduce alert spam. Defaults to 0 (no cooldown) |
| Notification Actions | Add one or more Home Assistant actions for delivery |
Available fields for the message body:
| Field | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Category | The type of race control event |
| Flag | The flag associated with the message |
| Scope | Track-wide or specific sector/car |
| Sector | Which sector is affected (if applicable) |
| Car number | The car number if the message targets a specific driver |
| UTC | Timestamp of the message |
| Event ID | Internal event identifier |
| Session phase | Current session phase at the time of the message |
Step 6 — Add a Notification Action
In the Notification Actions field, add your delivery action. Below are examples for the most common services.
Mobile app notification:
- service: notify.mobile_app_your_phone
data:
title: "{{ notification_title }}"
message: "{{ notification_message }}"
Persistent notification (visible in Home Assistant UI):
- service: persistent_notification.create
data:
title: "{{ notification_title }}"
message: "{{ notification_message }}"
Text-to-speech:
- service: tts.speak
target:
entity_id: tts.home_assistant_cloud
data:
message: "{{ race_control_message }}"
media_player_entity_id: media_player.living_room
Template Variables
The following variables are available inside your notification actions:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
{{ notification_title }} | Ready-to-use title combining prefix and flag |
{{ notification_message }} | Ready-to-use message with selected fields |
{{ race_control_message }} | The raw race control message text |
{{ race_control_category }} | Event category |
{{ race_control_flag }} | Flag type |
{{ race_control_scope }} | Scope (track, sector, car) |
{{ race_control_sector }} | Affected sector |
{{ race_control_car_number }} | Car number if applicable |
{{ race_control_utc }} | UTC timestamp |
{{ race_control_event_id }} | Event ID |
{{ race_control_session_phase }} | Current session phase |
Example Configurations
Notify only for safety car and red flag
Set Allowed Flags to SC, VSC, and RED. Leave all other filters empty.
Notify only during the race
Enable Require Active Session Phase and set Active Session Phases to live and suspended only.
Exclude administrative messages
Set Exclude Keywords to clerk, official, document to filter out FIA document references.