Track Status Light
Turn any RGB light into a live F1 race status indicator. The light color changes automatically to reflect the current track condition — green for clear racing, yellow for caution, red for a red flag, and distinct colors for Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car.
The blueprint is built around the Track Status and Session Status sensors from F1 Sensor, and includes optional gates for presence, media player state, and a do-not-disturb time window.
For WLED users, an optional advanced mode lets you map track states directly to WLED playlists or presets instead of plain RGB colors, giving you full control over animations, segments, and palettes.
For the light to change at the same time as you see the flag on screen, 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_track_status.yaml
Requirements
- F1 Sensor integration installed with live data enabled
- An RGB-capable light entity (or a group entity containing lights) in Home Assistant
- For WLED Advanced mode: a WLED light with its companion playlist and/or preset entities, plus optional palette, intensity, and speed helper entities exposed in Home Assistant (optional)
Step-by-step Setup
Step 1 — Create an automation from the blueprint
- Go to Settings > Automations & Scenes > Blueprints
- Find F1 Sensor - Track Status Light (Modern)
- Click Create Automation
Step 2 — Data Sources
Link the blueprint to the correct F1 Sensor entities.
Use the standard entity_id from the docs when you search, for example sensor.f1_track_status, sensor.f1_session_status, and sensor.f1_current_session.
Display names may be translated in Home Assistant. If you upgraded from an older release and already have a different registry ID, keep selecting your existing entity instead of trying to rename it to match the docs.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Session Status Sensor | Select the *_session_status sensor. This determines when the automation is active |
| Track Status Sensor | Select the *_track_status sensor. This drives the light color |
| Active Session Phases | The light only updates when the session is in one of these phases. Defaults to live and suspended |
The session goes through a sequence of phases during an event. During pre, break, finished, finalised, and ended the light will not update unless you include those phases in the active list. See Session Status values for the full list.
Step 3 — Session Scope (Optional)
Limit the automation to specific session types, for example only during Race and Qualifying, while ignoring Practice sessions.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Current Session Filter | When enabled, the light only updates 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 activate the light. Defaults to all sessions |
When this filter is enabled, the automation checks the Current Session sensor to decide whether to run. If the session type is not in the allowed list, light updates are suppressed entirely for that session.
Step 4 — Light Behavior
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Light Entity | Select the RGB light or group entity that should follow track status |
| Brightness | Brightness percentage when the light turns on. Defaults to 100% |
| Transition Time | How long color changes take in seconds. Defaults to 1s |
| Snapshot Light At Session Start | Saves the current light state when the session enters active phases. Used to restore the light to its pre-race state when the session ends. Defaults to on |
| Snapshot Before Alerts | Saves the light state before a YELLOW, RED, SC, or VSC update. Used to restore the light after an alert clears. Defaults to on |
Snapshots are temporary scenes stored in Home Assistant for the duration of the session. They allow the blueprint to restore your light to exactly how it looked before an incident — for example, going back to your normal living room scene once a yellow flag clears. They are automatically deleted when the session ends, unless you disable Delete Runtime Scenes On Session End in the session end settings.
Step 5 — WLED Advanced (Optional)
If your light is a WLED device, you can map track states directly to WLED playlists or presets instead of using plain RGB colors. This gives you full control over animations, segments, and palettes for each flag state. This section is collapsed by default.
WLED Advanced mode only applies to a single light entity. If the light target is a group, normal light behavior is used instead.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable WLED Advanced Mode | Master switch for WLED playlist and preset control. Disabled by default |
| WLED Playlist Entity | Optional. Select the WLED playlist select entity from the same device as the target light |
| WLED Preset Entity | Optional. Select the WLED preset select entity from the same device as the target light |
| WLED Palette Entity | Optional companion select entity, used only for snapshot and restore |
| WLED Intensity Entity | Optional companion number entity, used only for snapshot and restore |
| WLED Speed Entity | Optional companion number entity, used only for snapshot and restore |
You can configure a playlist entity, a preset entity, or both. When both are configured for the same track state, the playlist takes priority over the preset.
Per-state playlists and presets
Each track state can be assigned a WLED playlist and/or preset by name. The name must match an existing playlist or preset on the WLED device exactly. Leave a field empty to fall back to the other option or the normal color and flash behavior for that state.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Playlist — CLEAR | Playlist activated when the track is clear |
| Preset — CLEAR | Preset activated when the track is clear (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — YELLOW | Playlist activated on a yellow flag |
| Preset — YELLOW | Preset activated on a yellow flag (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — RED | Playlist activated on a red flag |
| Preset — RED | Preset activated on a red flag (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — VSC | Playlist activated when Virtual Safety Car is deployed |
| Preset — VSC | Preset activated when Virtual Safety Car is deployed (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — SC | Playlist activated when the Safety Car is deployed |
| Preset — SC | Preset activated when the Safety Car is deployed (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — Finished / Checkered Flag | Playlist shown when the session transitions to finished, before the end action runs |
| Preset — Finished / Checkered Flag | Preset shown when the session transitions to finished, before the end action runs (used if no playlist is set) |
| Playlist — Session End Neutral | Playlist used when the session end action is Set neutral color |
| Preset — Session End Neutral | Preset used when the session end action is Set neutral color (used if no playlist is set) |
Create your playlists and presets in the WLED web UI first, then enter the exact matching name in the blueprint. Both playlists and presets can include custom effects, color palettes, segment layouts, and brightness — anything WLED supports.
Step 6 — Flag Colors
Set the RGB color for each track status. These settings are collapsed by default and come with sensible defaults.
| Track Status | Default Color | When it appears |
|---|---|---|
| CLEAR | Green [0, 255, 0] | Normal racing conditions |
| YELLOW | Yellow [255, 255, 0] | Caution, hazard on track |
| RED | Red [255, 0, 0] | Session stopped |
| VSC | Yellow [255, 255, 0] | Virtual Safety Car deployed |
| SC | Red [255, 0, 0] | Safety Car deployed |
Step 7 — Alert Behavior
Configure how the light behaves during flag alerts. YELLOW and RED share one set of options, while SC and VSC share another. All settings in this section are collapsed by default.
Flash Interval controls the time between on and off pulses for any flashing mode.
YELLOW and RED
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| YELLOW/RED Mode | How the light behaves when YELLOW or RED is active |
| YELLOW/RED Flash Duration | How long the light flashes before switching to the after-flash behavior. Used only in timed mode. Defaults to 10s |
| YELLOW/RED After Timed Flash | What the light does after timed flashing ends |
SC and VSC
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| SC/VSC Mode | How the light behaves when SC or VSC is active |
| SC/VSC Flash Duration | How long the light flashes before switching to the after-flash behavior. Used only in timed mode. Defaults to 10s |
| SC/VSC After Timed Flash | What the light does after timed flashing ends |
Available modes:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Steady color only | Light switches to the flag color without flashing |
| Flash for a duration then continue | Light flashes for the configured duration, then switches to the after-flash setting |
| Flash continuously until status changes | Light keeps flashing until the track status changes away |
After timed flash options:
| Option | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Keep steady color | Light stays on the flag color |
| Restore pre-alert scene | Light restores to the state it was in before the alert began (requires Snapshot Before Alerts to be enabled) |
Step 8 — CLEAR Behavior
Configure what the light does when the track status returns to CLEAR. This section is collapsed by default.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| CLEAR Mode | How the light responds when CLEAR is received |
| CLEAR Restore Delay | How long the light shows the CLEAR color before restoring. Used only in delayed restore mode. Defaults to 5s |
Available modes:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Keep CLEAR color | Light switches to the CLEAR color and stays there |
| Restore pre-alert scene immediately | Light restores to the state it was in before the alert, skipping the CLEAR color entirely |
| CLEAR color then restore after delay | Light shows the CLEAR color briefly, then restores to the pre-alert state after the configured delay |
The restore options require Snapshot Before Alerts to be enabled in the Light Behavior section.
Step 9 — Activation Conditions (Optional)
These optional gates must all pass before the light updates. All are disabled by default.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Presence Devices | Select one or more device trackers. At least one must be home for the light to update |
| Media Player Gate | Select a media player. The light only updates when the player is on, idle, or playing |
| Enable Do Not Disturb Window | Block light updates during a specific time window |
| DND Start Time | When the DND window begins. Defaults to 23:00 |
| DND End Time | When the DND window ends. Defaults to 07:00. Overnight windows (e.g. 23:00–07:00) are supported |
Step 10 — Session End Behavior (Optional)
Configure what happens to the light after the session leaves the active phases. This section is collapsed by default.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| End Delay | Wait this many minutes after the session ends before applying the end action. Defaults to 0 |
| End Action | What to do after the delay |
| Neutral Color | Color used when End Action is set to Set neutral color. Defaults to white |
| Delete Runtime Scenes On Session End | Removes the temporary pre-race and pre-alert scenes from Home Assistant after the end action runs. Defaults to on |
End action options:
| Option | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Keep current light state | The light stays exactly as it was when the session ended |
| Turn off light | The light turns off |
| Set neutral color | The light switches to a neutral color of your choice |
| Restore pre-race scene | The light restores to the state it was in when the session started (requires Snapshot Light At Session Start to be enabled) |
Step 11 — Notifications (Optional)
The blueprint can also send notifications on track status changes and session end. This section is collapsed and disabled by default.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Notifications | Master switch for all notification actions |
| Notify on Track Status Updates | Send a notification each time the track status changes |
| Notify on Session End | Send a notification when the session leaves the active phases |
| Notification Actions | Add one or more Home Assistant actions for delivery |
Available template variables in notification actions:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
{{ notification_title }} | Pre-built title (F1 Track Status or F1 Session Ended) |
{{ notification_message }} | Pre-built message describing the change |
{{ notification_track_state }} | Current track status in uppercase |
{{ notification_session_phase }} | Current session phase in lowercase |
Testing
You can simulate track and session changes without waiting for a live session.
- Go to Developer Tools > States
- Find your
*_track_statusor*_session_statusentity - Set the state manually to any valid value (e.g.
SC,RED,live)
The automation will react immediately as if the sensor had changed naturally.
Valid track status values: CLEAR, YELLOW, VSC, SC, RED
Valid session phase values: pre, live, suspended, break, finished, finalised, ended
How it works
The automation has two triggers: one for track status changes and one for session status changes. When a track update arrives and all conditions pass (active session phase, presence, media player, DND window), the light switches to the matching color.
When a session enters active phases, an optional snapshot of the light state is saved. Before each YELLOW, RED, SC, or VSC update, another optional snapshot is taken. These snapshots allow the automation to restore the light to its previous state — either after an alert clears, or when the session ends.
YELLOW, RED, SC, and VSC each support three modes: a steady color, timed flashing (flash for a set duration, then continue with either steady or a restore), or continuous flashing until the status changes away.
When the CLEAR status arrives, the light can show the clear color, restore immediately to the pre-alert state, or show the clear color briefly before restoring.
When WLED Advanced mode is enabled and a valid playlist or preset is configured for the current track state, it is activated directly on the WLED device instead of using the normal color and flash logic. When both a playlist and a preset are configured for the same state, the playlist takes priority. States with neither a playlist nor a preset configured fall back to the standard RGB behavior. The companion palette, intensity, and speed entities are included in snapshots and restores so the full WLED state is preserved.
When the session transitions to the finished phase and a WLED finished playlist or preset is configured, it is activated briefly before the end action runs. When the session leaves active phases, the configured end action runs after an optional delay. If a WLED session-end playlist or preset is configured and the end action is Set neutral color, it is used instead of the neutral color. Temporary scenes created during the session are cleaned up automatically when the session ends.