World Rally Championship drivers, who joined their Formula 1 counterparts in protesting the FIA’s clampdown on swearing, are refusing to answer questions from the media this weekend.
The competitors formed the World Rally Drivers’ Alliance last month after the FIA used its new sanctions to fine Adrian Fourmaux for swearing while speaking to media at the last round in Sweden.
At this weekend’s Safari Rally in Kenya, drivers are either refusing to answer questions or responding only in their native language.
“We all agree to keep rudeness at the microphone to a minimum,” they said in a statement. “At the same time, it is necessary to maintain a certain freedom of expression and to keep emotions alive while drivers don’t need to be afraid of getting punished in any way.”
Fourmaux was fined €30,000 (£25,000) of which €20,000 was suspended, for using the word “fucked.” F1 drivers face fines of up to €40,000 for the same infringement.
“We have asked the president of the FIA for some positive changes in the rules to help us achieve this goal,” the rally drivers added.
“For the reasons explained in our statement, it is impossible for us to guarantee that we (drivers and co-drivers) will be able to follow these rules perfectly and systematically.
“This is why we – WoRDA Members – are now taking the responsible decision to remain silent at the end of the interviews or to answer in our mother tongue.
“In the […] interest of our sport, such an action is unfortunately needed, and we apologise to all the rally fans, even though we know they support us in this.”
Last year Max Verstappen was ordered to perform “public work” at an FIA event in Rwanda for swearing during an official press conference in Singapore. Charles Leclerc was fined €10,000 (£8,420), half of which was suspended, for swearing in a Mexican Grand Prix press conference.
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hunocsi (@hunocsi)
19th March 2025, 10:03
Good on them. I’m guessing the next step will be that they get punished for remaining silent, so hopefully the FIA will get the “I’m just here so I don’t get fined” treatment soon as well.
Red Pill (@redpill)
19th March 2025, 17:22
I’m sure the MBS (Mohammed Ben Sulayem) will try to wield his iron fist, and squash the peasants who question his ways and rules! No one who defies him gets mercy.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 20:58
@hunocsi Given there’s already a regulation that requires drivers to answer questions from journalists, it’s more or less inevitable that there will be the same penalty for remaining silent as if they had sworn. (The drivers answering only in their native language are on firmer ground, and might make their part of the protest successfully).
amped
19th March 2025, 10:08
Pathetic. Codes of conduct are commonplace in workplaces.
Carsten Nielsen (@carstenb)
19th March 2025, 10:22
Ahh come on, let the drivers speak a natural language, not fear the “Word Police”. The fines are ridiculous as well.
S Arkazam
19th March 2025, 10:26
They are not working for FIA!
And I’ve never worked for a company where one was sanctioned for using a sentence like “we pǝʞɔnɟ up” (at least not for the choice of words).
S
19th March 2025, 11:49
Is your workplace constantly in front of global media? Marketing its products/services directly to minors?
And while the drivers aren’t directly employed by the FIA – they do have a mutually signed contract with the FIA (their licence and the ISC) and operate within the FIA’s workplace and guidelines.
Jojo
19th March 2025, 14:45
By remaining silent, they aren’t breaching workplace policies and there’s less risk of them slipping up. So it’s a fair response.
S Arkazam
19th March 2025, 15:46
Maybe they weren’t that ‘commonplace’ after all. :P
Doug
19th March 2025, 11:15
In my workplace, swearing is frowned upon but not banned. Nor are we fined whenever we do swear.
anon
19th March 2025, 13:58
I wonder if you are also the same sort of person who will then moan that drivers are sticking to safe and anodyne statements in response.
Rooie Piet (@axel3304)
19th March 2025, 14:43
Take the wage difference into acount. Imagine you are in a high-intensity environment and in a heat of the moment interview you slip an F-bomb. Not your best moment surely, but losing a quarter of your yearly salary because of that? I can imagine their outrage.
Greg
19th March 2025, 15:05
FIA has it easy, if drivers use inapropiate language they can opt not to air the moments when they do so.
Red Pill (@redpill)
19th March 2025, 19:07
Exactly, and which is done everyday in other sports. MBS and FIA, and the tv productions choose not to bleep/omit them out which can easily be done, and works very well. But instead it seems more like some moral code that needs to be adopted if you’re a race car driver in the heat of the moment.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:01
@redpill They can’t bleep out live speech (which some of the interview answers are). Nobody has the tech for that yet.
Red Pill (@redpill)
20th March 2025, 9:17
@alianora-la-canta
All F1 footage is slightly delayed like most live sports events to help prevent certain unfortunate/tragic situations from being aired allowing editors who are monitoring it live in the control room who can have time to bleep it. Please research it and let us know.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 20:59
Codes of conduct that impede the work to be done to such an extent as to render the exercise pointless are rarer – and generally protested.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:00
(I am in a workplace that permits swearing if it is the correct answer to a question and no non-offensive term would answer the question as precisely).
S
20th March 2025, 2:47
I’d love to see an example where expletives are the most accurate or only correct way to describe something.
Dale
19th March 2025, 23:39
Seems like nappies are commonplace in your workplace too?
HUHHII (@huhhii)
19th March 2025, 10:12
Looking forward to this weekend’s legendary Kenya rally. Easily the most interesting motorsport event this weekend.
And yeah, very well done of them to put up a fight against FIA’s ridicilousness
S
19th March 2025, 10:21
These drivers are not only making themselves look immature and silly, they will soon start costing themselves and their teams income from sponsors – if they aren’t already.
And for what? Just so they can blurt out a few expletives at the most inappropriate of moments?
Sometimes adults forget to act like adults – and sometimes they do it deliberately.
If it takes large sums of money to remind them about when are where swearing is acceptable, then so be it. If it’s not about the money, then they won’t mind paying the fines…
Roy Beedrill
19th March 2025, 11:28
Rule number one for being super-adult™: try to show everyone and everywhere how adult™ you are and always point up and criticize others for not being as adult™ as you are. ;-)
Tom
19th March 2025, 17:53
I’m just here to upvote Roy +1
Miroslav Hržica (@mhrzica)
20th March 2025, 7:01
me too :)
Red Pill (@redpill)
20th March 2025, 9:20
Me too. I’m just here to upvote Roy +1
Alan Dove
19th March 2025, 11:50
This is the most coverage WRC has got in years though.
Patrick (@paeschli)
19th March 2025, 18:04
Swearing should be a 500€ fine, not 30000€…
S
20th March 2025, 2:49
But what kind of deterrent would that be?
Stoo (@stewart51)
20th March 2025, 15:30
I agree wholeheartedly, most adults (and especially teenagers) use expletives when they are frustrated at a situation, as it’s simply a part of being human, and the pressure on Racing Drivers would be high enough to need a carillion rather than a bleeper.
The fines themselves are stupidly high, and should be pegged at a low level to give the effect of a “Swearbox” going to Charity rather than the FIA.
MichaelN
19th March 2025, 19:07
Indeed, what are they, twelve?
They can’t form a sentence without using expletives? Come on.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:02
S, the FIA’s approach is in itself already costing income. This means that even if a lost sponsor can be attributed to the swearing situation, only a statement from the sponsor would be able to ascertain if it is the FIA or the driver who caused it to leave.
S Arkazam
19th March 2025, 10:29
Smart choice to use their mother tongue.
It is easier for people to judge which words are considered swearing. And interestingly some words in their mother tongue might actually be considered swearing words in English.
Bob C
19th March 2025, 10:59
Well, in my native Danish the word for the rather relevant concept of “speed” happens to be “fart“, so there is that.
(and, yes, the word for “speed control” is actually “fart kontrol”)
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th March 2025, 13:10
So long as you’re controlling it. No fines need to be issued. But maybe see a doctor :-)
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
20th March 2025, 10:15
In Swedish, the word for “the end” or “the finish” or “it’s over” can be spelled “ess ell u tee“. (s – l – u – t).
There are forums where Swedes can’t write that “S-word” in their own language because the Holy Algorithm thinks it’s English and censors the word even if the rest of the discussion is 100% in Swedish.
tielemst
19th March 2025, 11:08
Dutch people would still be in trouble I’m afraid.
builtInYorkshire (@olpeculier)
19th March 2025, 11:37
Can you really blame them for the odd expletive? Having a microphone stuck in front of you litterally seconds after you have come off a stage doing god knows what speed and expecting them to not convey any signs of what they have done without swearing?
I love WRC, I look at the drivers as the best there are out of all disciplines.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th March 2025, 13:13
I’m certain that if you put me in the co-driver seat with one of these guys on a WRC stage, I’d run out of cusses and be inventing new ones.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th March 2025, 11:38
A totally unreasonable approach, not to mention English is the native language for Evans & McEarlen, so I guess they won’t speak at all, while French is FIA’s co-official language alongside English, so I guess Fourmaux & Munster will also avoid speaking altogether.
Additionally, even if all the other non-native speakers only spoke in their respective native languages, FIA could still find other swearing by simply using a translator.
CD (@clipperdael)
19th March 2025, 13:04
Evans answered in his native language of Welsh. Fourmaux chose to remain silent but Neuville decided to make a little speech in French. Tanak spoke English although not much more than ‘sorry but this is how it’ll be this weekend.’ Katsuta simply gave a thumbs-up. They stopped trying to get anything out of the drivers afterwards and simply did away with the interviews for the rest of the shakedown.
I can sympathise with the drivers although on a personal level I kind of wish they stayed mum indefinitely since I feel these post-stage interviews barely if ever lead to any deeper insights. It’s mainly variations on ‘difficult surface, trying my best, bye’ and it always takes me out of the action whilst the other cars are still in the stage. It was even more annoying until very recently because they used to cut away full screen as opposed to the smaller inset they have started using instead.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th March 2025, 14:30
@clipperdael I knew Evans could speak at least some Welsh, but I’d always thought it was his second language rather than native, so my bad on this front.
Kalle Rovanperä also did his post-shakedown run interview in English, which was a little longer than Tänak’s.
I didn’t know about Neuville’s French use for the purpose, & not bothering to interview any later drivers was ultimately wise, which I hope will be the case for all the competitive special stages.
I see what you mean regarding your feeling about special stage time control interviews that have been a thing for a long time.
However, I’ve always enjoyed them even if they tend to be short on average, not to mention some legendary ones that arose over the years.
I also like this small split-screen approach that has been in use for a little while.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:11
@jerejj About 15% of Welsh people (primarily in the more rural parts) speak Welsh as their primary language. Due to a policy of teaching both Welsh and English in Welsh schools, most of the rest are able to use both to some extent, even if it is only the verbal equivalent of a thumbs-up (which would probably be enough to avoid a penalty if pretending not to speak English for FIA-protesting purposes).
SteveP
19th March 2025, 13:06
Maybe Josh could leave all the speaking to Elfyn, who I suspect knows more than enough Welsh to get by; unless Josh has the Irish card in hand…
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th March 2025, 13:20
Of all the problems the FIA have right now, that they’re trying to figure out if someone is swearing in Welsh suggests this has been handled terribly, and they presumably don’t have a department to advise on that.
SteveP
19th March 2025, 17:10
Maybe they should remove the root cause?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:12
Speech? That might be a bit daunting.
5
19th March 2025, 12:45
A totally reasonable approach for the recent gagging of drivers.
Ogier got last year fine for saying that why they have to drive with 3 minute gaps when so much dust is there, do they(the race officials) never learn… and then for the next stage the gaps were increased for 4 minutes.
When Pirelli was used, the drivers were constantly warned not to complain about the product quality. Sometimes the critique was unjustified (saying, i drove cleanly, meaning cutting every corner everywhere possible) but the blowouts were eventually cleaned up.
Now the last issue came from driver using explicit wording for his actions right after stage, meaning he was insulting or demeaning noone but himself.
Cut out all the genuine emotions and critique and you’ll get “I’m Just Here So I Won’t Get Fined”.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
19th March 2025, 13:04
I agree that drivers, team leads and mechanics should not be using curse words in a very public sport like the WRC or F1 as they could influence younger folks, and well we want less cursing not make it a daily occurence. As such I do agree the FIA should write and create rules to contain this new trend in linguistics that even I myself find I do and hate. However, I don’t agree with the FIA’s method of implementation creating this hard wall, almost autocratic, design that does not allow any kind of leniency in the way drivers are penalized. I do think they should be allowed some space and peace to de-stress post action in stage or circuit before being asked to answer questions in a composed manner decompressing the emotions out of the answers. But, the drivers protests, as much as I do not agree with them, comes from the fact that the FIA in the form of its president is not willing to discuss, negotiate or compromise on these types of rules and that leads to these, in my opinion, infantile responses.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
19th March 2025, 13:09
And one last point, F1 as an example had some past champions that behaved properly without these rules being implemented. I do not see Fangio, Nuvalori or Moss swearing.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:14
@benihana Moss definitely used some terms that would be considered swearing now (although they were not swears during his racing era, of course – primarily, they were ways of referring to women that by his latter interviews were recognised as being a bit dated, and would be deemed outright swears now).
The other two haven’t given interviews for decades and thus missed out on the relevant lingual shift.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:17
The trend is not new – it was complained about in the 1950s. Obstructive silence in reaction to FIA restrictions dates back to 1990. Swearing in reaction to FIA restrictions is itself a couple of decades old. The only new part is there being a FIA president who didn’t predict any of this, preferring to up the stakes and put the FIA into disrepute.
Peter707
19th March 2025, 13:09
They simply don’t want to be treated like little children, that’s all. Adults do often swear, especially in emotionally intensive or stressful situations.
dot_com (@dot_com)
19th March 2025, 19:40
Yeah, and nothing makes them look more grown up than saying “if we can’t swear, we won’t say anything”…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:18
@dot_com Well, it is something I’ve seen more adults do than children. Young children are more likely to cry or scream, older ones to continue as if nothing had been said.
rob91
19th March 2025, 13:19
It is completely reasonable that anyone whose words are being recorded and broadcast live to the world should do their best to mind their language and avoid swearing, it is very easy to understand this and actually very easy to achieve.
rob91
19th March 2025, 13:29
Broadcasters do not like it when people swear on live TV, for obvious reasons. Maybe this is part of the reason why our favourite sports tend to be stuck behind paywalls these days?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:19
rob91 Except when swearing is incited, as has been happening over the last year (primarily but not entirely by the FIA itself).
Paywalls had nothing to do with swearing and everything to do with free-to-air broadcasters being outbid by eye-watering sums.
S
20th March 2025, 2:58
What on Earth has the FIA done to incite foul language in its official series media?
You might be confusing the FIA’s duties with the attention grabbing tactics of the commercial rights holder.
Bob
19th March 2025, 16:41
Is this for the American viewers? I don’t need to explain how hypocrit this is.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
19th March 2025, 21:20
No, Liberty had nothing to do with this. It was all Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s idea. He seems to have done this for his own motives rather than those of any particular audience.
MichaelN
19th March 2025, 22:17
No, it’s just part of the International Sporting Code, specifically the section on Misconduct.
The Code is drawn up by the FIA General Assembly and/or World Motorsport Council.
The FIA president is of course the main figurehead and thus spokesman of the organization, but it’s not like he came up with this because he was bored by the press conferences and figured they needed a change.
Bip
19th March 2025, 17:48
I think it’s fair to have some rules around swearing when publicly speaking such as interviews, but whist they’re driving, not a problem. If it’s like F1, the swearing is bleeped out anyway. Not sure why there’s such a big fuss on both sides of the argument.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th March 2025, 17:57
Swearing doesn’t get censored on live broadcasts in WRC, but the fuss indeed is unnecessarily excessive.
Robert Williams (@weiliwen)
19th March 2025, 18:02
MBS could have handled this with tact and diplomacy, speaking directly to drivers instead of through the press. I guess he want to show everybody how “moral” he is, despite all facts.
Leksa (@leksa)
19th March 2025, 18:47
Way to go! F̶u̴c̶k̶ ̷t̶h̴o̵s̷e̶ ̴m̸o̶t̷h̸e̶r̴f̸u̶c̴k̵e̷r̵s̵ ̴f̸o̵r̷ ̷g̶o̸o̵d̵.The more people stand against MSB, the better. This world has enough of dictators.
Gary Taylor
20th March 2025, 3:48
Iv’e alway’s been told by my wife say what you mean…Watching F1 and the WRC and the BTCC for the last 30 year’s it all boil’s down to dictatorship and i have come to conclusion since MBS has control it has got pathetic…I am not conviced that MBS doesn’t swear…Everyone is entitled to free speech…
Gary Taylor
20th March 2025, 4:19
I agree in the heat of the moment you are going to say thing’s that may upset people…it’s the way of life is at the moment.
Gary Taylor
20th March 2025, 4:14
It is no different than sending your child to school then them coming home and say a swear word…there is no way of stopping it.
Snowy (@snowy666)
20th March 2025, 8:35
The FIA stance is idiotic. Look at the likes of Drive to Survive – now I detest the tabloid story arcs that they feel they need to cram into the show, but one of the big draws for me is seeing more raw footage. When the drivers are in front of a camera in corporate-mode, they have nothing interesting to say. It is the same old broadcast-friendly soundbite that actually says nothing.
Take the filter away. Let them speak, let them be who they are, not some plastic corporate entity. People are genuinely offended by ‘naughty words’ but happy to support racing in countries whose human rights records are appalling? They should get their moral compasses adjusted…