Rally driver feels the consequence of Verstappen's swearing case: 'Unsure'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
In the World Rally Championship (WRC), punishment for saying a swear word is also a hot topic. For instance, one of the stars in the sport, the Estonian Ott Tänak, claimed he no longer knew what to say and what not to say in public.
While Formula 1 has a few weeks' break, the rally championship - also organised by the FIA - takes place in Chile. Before the race, the competitors were introduced to the public and in an on-stage interview, Tänak cryptically responded to questions. "Let’s see how the rally will be. It is quite interesting times at the moment, not sure how much I can say but I’m living the dream and enjoying the cars."
At first, the interviewer on duty did not know what the Hyundai driver was referring to. Then the Estonian said: "I meant it is strange times in motorsport generally where you need to be very careful what you say and how you express your emotions they are not really allowed for the moment."
Rally driver wants clarity from FIA
In the WRC there was a similar case to Verstappen recently, when Sebastian Oger openly criticised officials during the rally of Greece. That landed him a suspended fine of €30,000. Asked whether he is worried about the direction the FIA has taken, the driver said: "Yeah, in rallying with Seb and in Formula 1 as well and with all these things coming together it seems we are really on the radar at the moment, so let’s see where it goes from here."
"Probably the promoter should take us to one side and really explain to us what they expecting, but for the moment to give stage end interviews without any emotion, it is really difficult to know how to act. It is an interesting time.”
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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26 September 2024
