Rally Drivers Protest FIA Crusade Against Swearing By Giving The Silent Treatment

One of the big storylines late in the 2024 Formula 1 season that has continued through the offseason and into this season has been the FIA's crackdown on drivers swearing.

Drivers now face big fines and even suspensions if they drop a four-letter word.

It's a bit ridiculous to police this and the punishments are definitely a bit much, but what some people forget is that while this crackdown has been talked about a lot in an F1 context, because it's an FIA-driven crusade against profanity, it impacts plenty of other championships that the FIA sees, including the World Rally Championship.

And the rally drivers? They're not jazzed about these rules.

Back in February, the World Rally Drivers Alliance (the drivers' union) released a statement that they said was inspired by a similar one from the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (the F1 drivers' union) condemning the rules after M-Sport Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined for swearing during an interview with Rally Sweden, per RACER.

Well, this week WRC is gearing up for its third round of the season with the Safari Rally Kenya, but after a shakedown session early in the weekend, drivers decided not to talk to the media or did so in their native tongue.

2024 champ Thierry Neuville who drives for Hyundai and hails from Belgium explained the situation in French.

"I believe you already know there will be little to no communication from us this weekend. Everyone will do it in their own language," Neuville said. "We are sorry there has been no communication between the FIA and us. We are not the kind of people who insult and offend others. We feel sorry for the fans but we’ve taken this decision altogether."

The World Rally Drivers Alliance released another statement after the protest.

"We all agree to keep rudeness at the microphone to a minimum," it reads. "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. We have asked the President of the FIA for some positive changes in the rules to help us achieve this goal.

"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."

The statement said that the plan to not speak to the media or do so in a driver's "mother tongue" will continue.

"In the own interest of our sport, such an action is unfortunately needed, and we apologize to all the rally fans, even though we know they support us in this."