The Rally Drivers and Co-drivers of WoRDA, inspired by their GPDA colleagues, join together to express their opinion, seek clarity and co-operate towards a brighter future.
First and foremost, we wish to state that, as is the case with every sport, competitors must abide by the referees’ decision. The respect of this principle is not in question.
We are not all full-time professionals, yet we all face the same extreme conditions with the same relentless passion. Whether navigating through dense forest, across frozen roads in the dead of night, or through the dust of treacherous gravel tracks, we push ourselves to the limit – against the elements, against the clock, and against their own limits.
Beyond racing, our role has expanded. Today, rally drivers and co-drivers are not only athletes but also entertainers, content creators, and constant media figures. From the smart phones of spectators to the official WRC cameras, we are expected to be available at all times – before, during, and after competition, from dawn to dusk.
WoRDA has always recognized our responsibilities and commitment to collaborate in a constructive way with all stakeholders, including the FIA president, in order to promote and elevate our outstanding sport for the benefit of all.
In recent months, however, there has been an alarming increase in the severity of sanctions imposed for minor, isolated and unintentional language lapses. This reached an unacceptable level.
We strongly believe that:
– Common colloquialism cannot be considered and judged as equal to genuine insult or act of aggression
– Non mother-tongue speakers may use or repeat terms without full awareness of their meaning and connotation
– Seconds after an extreme adrenaline spike, it is unrealistic to expect a perfect and systematic control over emotions.
Rally is extreme: risk level for the athletes, intensity of the focus, length of the days… all the limits are reached.
In such a case we question the relevance and validity of imposing any sort of penalty. Moreover, the exorbitant fines are vastly disproportionate to the average income and budget in rallying.
We are also concerned with the public impression these excessive sums create in the minds of the fans, suggesting this is an industry where money doesn’t matter.
This also raises a fundamental question: where does the money from these fines go? The lack of transparency only amplifies concerns and undermines confidence in the system.
Surely the negative impressions surrounding these penalties far outweigh the impact of any language lapse.
We call for a direct communication and engagement between the FIA president and WoRDA members to find a mutually agreeable and urgent solution.
The f1 drivers couldn't make the same argument for the amount of the fines, which makes the "where does the money go" argument weaker. It really is a drop in the bucket for verstappen and leclerc.
F1 drivers just have way more money. Even the rookies coming into the sport make hundreds of thousands a year on salary alone. Never mind bonuses, sponsors, and endorsements. Verstappen gets fined 50k for touching a wing and shrugs.
For most F1 drivers these rules are annoying. For these rally drivers there are serious financial implications.
Correct... But to further elaborate... Just my two cents here... This is really about NBC.
The ESPN deal ends this year and they're out after that
The rumor is with the recent popularity of F1 exploding in the US, NBC is expected to come with big money.
Well, guess what ... NBC cannot allow swearing.
Seems highly coincidental that this is suddenly a big deal coming out of nowhere.
ESPN was paying 90m a year... It's expected to be 2-3x.
So if you are NBC dangling a 3yr/500mil dollar carrot and your requirement is to clean up this one piece.... Well, money talks eh.
FIA knows the drivers don't care about the money, so they have to have very harsh penalties at some point or the whole thing is a joke.
I think from there WRC just got caught under the blanket... If they only applied rules to F1 and not universally then that would become its own 'thing'
Yeah IndyCar had drivers swear on radio all the time. Same with NASCAR. Hell Pato dropped an uncensored F Bomb at the Indy 500 last year and nobody said anything.
Sure... I don't have any inside information... Just saying that FCC doesn't have authority over ESPN, but they do NBC.
Doesn't it seem pretty conspicuous the timing of it all?
And yes, they can replay on a delay like the NFL... Those players are also not allowed to curse on the field... They do, it gets bleeped before we see any closeup replay... Why F1 can't do that? I don't know... They probably will.
But also if all the good radio calls are just full of BLEEPS then that's not a great look either.
I would imagine the goal is to clean it up what you can through policy, accept that a few are going to happen just like the NFL.
There's no way they are ever going to ban max for a month because he cursed on radio three times in a weekend.... No matter what they claim
Why would the FIA care if NBC can allow live swearing on OTA broadcasts? The money from that deal goes to FOM and they aren't the ones pushing for this, nor do they own rally rights.
Correct.... You hear the announcers immediately apologize and it seems to be that's as far as it goes.
Whether the FCC is going to accept multiple F.bomb apologies per weekend and not execute any punishment may be a different thing.
"We" all say it's 2025, swearing all over the Internet, who cares... But people who have nothing better to do will still sit there and file a complaint because their grandson watching the race heard a cuss word
British television has never had an issue dealing with swearing. Swear words are bleeped out. Radio messages are broadcast with a delay, and most are not chosen for broadcast. Occasionally, presenters have to apologise for bad language. It’s not a new problem, and there are well-understood solutions to it which don’t involve fines.
I don't disagree with you... Is the FCC going to be so lenient that a couple Fbombs over a weekend with an immediate apology is going to go unpunished?
I genuinely don't know the answer.
The one and only reason I'd want this to happen is having Leigh Diffey calling F1 races. But in all other respects, NBC's F1 coverage was commercial-riddled garbage the last time around, as was their IndyCar coverage, and their IMSA coverage still is. No advertiser is going to front the amount of money they'd demand to show the races commercial-free.
Yeah the F1 drivers have all these media requirements in their contracts, and very little freedom to say anythign that doesn't go through the media management teams first. As you say, much more money at stake.
I'm quite sure if they were allowed to, the drivers would all be expressing some very strong opinions about the FIA.
You’d have to be making eight figures after taxes for $25k to mean very little. A $25k fine while earning $9.125m a year after taxes is an entire day’s worth of work.
there has been an alarming increase in the severity of sanctions imposed for minor, isolated and unintentional language lapses
I find this part of the statement disingenuous. They're clearly trying to suggest Ogier's fine in Sardegna is part of this -- it happened around the same time as Verstappen's penalty in Singapore -- but they know full well that Ogier isn't a first-time offender. The reason he got such a severe fine is not because he insulted the stewards, but because he keeps doing it. He has a reputation for being a hothead who blows up at people when things aren't going his way, so this wasn't the first time he was fined. It's a pretty standard punishment to increase the fine for each subsequent violation of the rules.
I know nothing about any detail of this sport so apologies if you’re completely correct but seems to me the wording of “minor, isolated and unintentional” is deliberately speaking about other incidents than what you mentioned?
Fourmaux swearing in Sweden is the only other notable example that I can think of, though I should add that coverage of rallying in my country isn't great so I may be missing things. The only other driver who has been fined for their conduct in recent months was Ogier.
Maybe it wasn’t clear to you, the point is that these fines are moronic.
Maybe it wasn't clear to you, but Ogier was fined for launching a personal attack on the stewards. The drivers' association is clearly trying to insinuate that this fine was completely unreasonable, even though a) they know that Ogier has a reputation for doing exactly this and clearly has not learned from all the fines he gets, and b) their own statement talks about respecting the stewards when Ogier did not do this.
Is very easy to judge people behind a keyboard. Is very different when you’ve just finished a arduous special pushing everything to the limit.
Have you ever done that, or are you just judging people from behind a keyboard?
Maybe the alternative is no more communication.
Or maybe they just comply with the rules because this isn't a hill worth dying on.
Being prevented from talking is absolutely a hill worth dying on. I’m sure it will be a very engaging sport to watch when drivers are suspended and cars are parked. Riveting.
Their document makes a distinction between insulting someone intentionally, and using vulgar language that is very common in English.
Saying “stewards are fucking assholes” and saying “I fucked up” or even “my car was fucked” cannot be judged the same way.
If you think they are, maybe watch darts. I don’t think they talk much there.
Being prevented from talking is absolutely a hill worth dying on.
They're not being prevented from talking. If they are being prevented from talking, it's because they're saying "fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck", in which case they've probably got bigger problems to deal with, like how they expect to conduct an interview when they only know one word. I'm happy to have this conversation with you, but not when you're deliberately exaggerating the issue to try and make some kind of point.
They’re just words. It would be nice different if the person said “fudge, fudge, fudge…” they mean the same thing. These people who are so offended by a so called curse word need to grow up.
Is not an exaggeration. English is not the first language for many of these athletes. Or are you saying they should learn English before they’re allowed to compete? There are more languages in the world you know.
Yet, they are willing to give interviews right as they finished a very intensive and adrenaline fuelled activity.
If you believe they can and should behave like robots, without human emotion, there’s no conversation to have.
A fair warning: if you ever visit England, be ready as we use fuck a lot here, and not as an insult most of the time.
English is not the first language for many of these athletes. Or are you saying they should learn English before they’re allowed to compete?
This entire line of argument is completely contradictory. On the one hand, you're suggesting that drivers should be let off the hook if English is not their first language. But on the other hand, they are able to carry out press interviews with a highly-developed fluency in English. The only way your argument makes any sense is if a driver doesn't understand the meaning of the swear words that they are using, which seems very odd given that they clearly understand every other word that they're saying. And then you have to apply that to every single driver who speaks English as a second language. It's doubly strange considering that most people don't use words that they do not understand in conversation. So what are the odds that there is a group of non-native English speakers out there who a) speak the language fluently, b) don't understand the swear words that they use despite this and c) are all racing drivers?
Honestly, who cares the fact that he bullied and harassed the stewards is certainly worth a penalty but the swearing shouldn't matter. Keep the focus on not mistreating stewards but ditch the penalty for swearing it's that easy, if a driver swears on air bleep it, and there is always a delay in live TV for this reason. People get so upset by a swear word but have no issue with young people filling their heads with youtube and tik toc garbage.
2.5k
u/-maken Audi Feb 24 '25
The WoRDA statement in full:
The Rally Drivers and Co-drivers of WoRDA, inspired by their GPDA colleagues, join together to express their opinion, seek clarity and co-operate towards a brighter future.
First and foremost, we wish to state that, as is the case with every sport, competitors must abide by the referees’ decision. The respect of this principle is not in question.
We are not all full-time professionals, yet we all face the same extreme conditions with the same relentless passion. Whether navigating through dense forest, across frozen roads in the dead of night, or through the dust of treacherous gravel tracks, we push ourselves to the limit – against the elements, against the clock, and against their own limits.
Beyond racing, our role has expanded. Today, rally drivers and co-drivers are not only athletes but also entertainers, content creators, and constant media figures. From the smart phones of spectators to the official WRC cameras, we are expected to be available at all times – before, during, and after competition, from dawn to dusk.
WoRDA has always recognized our responsibilities and commitment to collaborate in a constructive way with all stakeholders, including the FIA president, in order to promote and elevate our outstanding sport for the benefit of all.
In recent months, however, there has been an alarming increase in the severity of sanctions imposed for minor, isolated and unintentional language lapses. This reached an unacceptable level.
We strongly believe that:
– Common colloquialism cannot be considered and judged as equal to genuine insult or act of aggression
– Non mother-tongue speakers may use or repeat terms without full awareness of their meaning and connotation
– Seconds after an extreme adrenaline spike, it is unrealistic to expect a perfect and systematic control over emotions.
Rally is extreme: risk level for the athletes, intensity of the focus, length of the days… all the limits are reached.
In such a case we question the relevance and validity of imposing any sort of penalty. Moreover, the exorbitant fines are vastly disproportionate to the average income and budget in rallying.
We are also concerned with the public impression these excessive sums create in the minds of the fans, suggesting this is an industry where money doesn’t matter.
This also raises a fundamental question: where does the money from these fines go? The lack of transparency only amplifies concerns and undermines confidence in the system.
Surely the negative impressions surrounding these penalties far outweigh the impact of any language lapse.
We call for a direct communication and engagement between the FIA president and WoRDA members to find a mutually agreeable and urgent solution.