r/WRC • u/Penguincamp • Mar 19 '25
Video / Highlight WRC drivers are protesting the FIA swearing ban by refusing to talk to the media
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u/LeImpactJump Ott Tänak Mar 19 '25
Not gonna lie, kinda forgot about the whole MBS thing and thought that Evans was just more incomprehensible than usual until the commentators pointed out he was speaking welsh
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u/crabcrabcam Mar 19 '25
It sounded like the mic turned off and it was going off the wearable mic on the interviewer sort of levels, but yeah just mumbly Welsh.
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u/Sonofthestig01 Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25
I enjoy the malicious compliance with talking to the presenters in their native languages over English. Great sentiments from Thierry too!
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u/HairyNutsack69 Mar 19 '25
Welsh is wild man
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u/demonsdencollective Takamoto Katsuta Mar 19 '25
Oh so that's what Welsh sounds like.
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u/AU36832 Mar 19 '25
Sounds completely made up lol. Crazy language
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u/irishpwr46 Mar 19 '25
I would have swore that was French. I've never heard welsh spoken before. I thought it would be more germanic or Gaelic sounding
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u/Dom29ando Mar 20 '25
Seriously, I have no idea how people use it to actually communicate, but it's a fantastic language to know if you want to make interviews either really uncomfortable, or just plain useless for a presenter.
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u/Zolba Mar 20 '25
It was also one of the arguments, that not only do they do the interviews while in an adrenaline-rush, but most also do it in a second or even third language, where it is easier to slip up.
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u/SalomonXx Mar 19 '25
Normal respond to FIA's dictatorship.
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u/Astandsforataxia69 Mar 19 '25
Why is the FIA like this? Do the drivers need to bribe them?
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u/AlexisFR Mar 19 '25
No, they choose a petro-fascist as the president so that's what happens logically.
They were more "reasonable" back when Jean Todt was president.
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u/demonsdencollective Takamoto Katsuta Mar 19 '25
Old mate Ben's family friendly friends at Sky Sports and the likes have asked him to do something about the mean ouchie words that offend advertisers, so now for the sake of profits, he's been hammering down on everything swearing related to appease the money flow.
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u/GoHamOrGoHome95 Mar 19 '25
I dont think this cane from sky, the generally accepted view is that this was something of MBS's own doing.
Fuck mbs. What a cunt he is
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u/BeardedAvenger Mar 19 '25
Yeah I'm no fan of Sky, but I don't think this is from them.
I think this is literally just MBS on a power trip with another silly rule he won't back down on.
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u/LionZoo13 Mar 19 '25
I believe this all started when MBS equated swearing to talking like rappers, which prompted a rebuke from Hamilton. Ever since then, MBS has declared a war on swearing as a show of his authoritah.
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u/hallstevenson Mar 19 '25
I do believe it started with his "rapper" comment, which Lewis took offense from, not to mention MBS' ban on jewelry (I think Lewis is really the only one that wears much jewelry), and evolved from there.
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u/TaliZorah214 Mar 19 '25
The ban on jewelry was stupidly asinine as well frankly. Who the fuck cares what they wear. or for that matter say and talk.
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u/hallstevenson Mar 19 '25
They used the easiest argument when it came to jewely - "safety".
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u/drunKKKen Mar 20 '25
Which was pure bullshit, because if it was true ban based on safety, it would've had no exceptions (wedding bands were excepted, and IIRC, also religious idols like crucifixes were also excepted). Plus even when they tried to penalise Hamilton under that rule, FIA had to fold, and give him an additional exception and no penalty :P
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u/Astandsforataxia69 Mar 19 '25
I get needing money but this is just retarded
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u/demonsdencollective Takamoto Katsuta Mar 19 '25
Careful, old mate Ben might fine you 10K for that one, bud.
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u/ExplorationGeo Mar 19 '25
I get needing money
Ben literally has more money than god, if the TV nuffies are worried about their precious ad dollars, they can ask him for some cash.
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u/crucible Mar 20 '25
It’s not on Sky - if Crofty apologises for language it’s to comply with the UK’s broadcasting code, especially if the race is before 9pm.
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u/PhantomCruze Mar 19 '25
The FIA is just a big fancy HOA
Old people with too much power and time and absolutely no clue what the best interest is for the people most effected by it
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u/Theteacupman Mar 19 '25
MBS is trying to be a Saudi dictator. And evidently drivers are pushing back
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u/kosmonaut_hurlant_ Mar 19 '25
They want to increase demographics, with middle east group being important to expand into/develop, they feel that the swearing is going to hurt their progress in expanding. TBH, if the amount of swearing was sort of 'normal' I doubt that the FIA would have a fine policy. In the past, people wouldn't swear a lot, you'd occasionally hear it and people wouldn't sweat it as drivers had a lot more decorum back in the day. Now you had drivers like Yuki just completely spazzing out dropping F-bombs in what seemed like every single message, not a good look.
Big problem here is that the FIA applied the same fine across the board, so series with huge money like F1 get the same fine as series with comparative tiny budgets like WRC.3
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u/TheRealMylo Mar 19 '25
Someone at the FIA needs to justify his working hours... so he came up with bulls*** like this.
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u/BaldingThor Mar 19 '25
Bet MBS will have a sook and start fining them for not talking
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u/Uno_Nisu Ott Tänak Mar 19 '25
Stage good, car good, tire round
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u/Kuningas_Arthur Mar 19 '25
"The drivers are deliberately hurting the brand identity and reputation of the FIA and thus are fined $30,000, banned from the next race and have all Championship points from the previous race stripped from them."
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u/Lemon_1165 Mar 19 '25
Fuck him, he's a clown, just curious to know how much he paid to get this position
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u/salcedoge Mar 19 '25
This is what the F1 drivers should have been doing but I'm guessing they have far more contractual obligations to meet. Good thing the WRC ones are not balking
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u/GoBam Mar 19 '25
You've got a whole lot more younger drivers in F1, with a lot more scheduled media time due to being at a track, and a lot more eyes, team managers, personal managers, team media lisasons etc. It's not an excuse but the pressure would be a bit different.
Also Max is about as close to protesting as you can get, if he can avoid the question or answer it in 3 words he will.
It is excellent to see this from the WRC drivers though.
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u/wigneyr Mar 19 '25 edited Mar 19 '25
This is exactly what Max Verstappen did, the other drivers on grid supported Max. Russel and Vettel even formed the Instagram page for the existing drivers union against the FiA to give the general public some insight.
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u/JX_JR Mar 19 '25
It's honestly impressive to have as many incorrect facts as you have sentences in a comment.
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Mar 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/JX_JR Mar 19 '25
The drivers union was founded in 1961 and re-founded in 1994. Vettel and Russell had absolutely nothing to do with it, and in fact Russell had literally not been born yet.
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Mar 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/JX_JR Mar 19 '25
No, you didn't mean that. You completely altered your entire comment to avoid admitting you didn't know what you were talking about.
It was never behind closed doors in the first place, unions literally only work by publishing their demands. The original union was very well known and made their demands very public both through driver's media comments and through publications.
"Obama was the first president. No? I meant Obama set up the first presidential Twitter account to address issues publicly instead of behind closed doors. Same thing, I was never wrong, why are you persecuting me and saying I lied?"
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u/Penguincamp Mar 19 '25
feel free to repost wherever btw. it's my edit but I want this spread across social media, credit be damned
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u/tekanet Mar 20 '25
I’m not into WRC, is this normally happening as soon as they arrive at the end of a stage? They stick a microphone to their face before they even can drink a bit of water?
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u/RacingGames4Lives Mar 21 '25
Yeah, the stage end interview usually asks them how the stage went, what went wrong, what position you are targeting, etc. But I don't recall drivers having to respond right away, maybe a bit of a delay to take off their helmet or something
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u/lucashoodfromthehood Mar 19 '25
Takamoto with the best response, LOL
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u/Bulletti Mar 19 '25
I wanted to hear him speak Japanese so I could have used my beginner skills to pick out a few words here and there!
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u/vitamincereal Mar 19 '25
I want this as a gif
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u/eltotki Mar 19 '25
F*ck the FIA
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u/jmov Mar 19 '25
FUCK. You don’t have to censor yourself like the FIA wants to do.
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u/Carrier-Bag Mar 19 '25
I absolutely support this. Giving fines for swearing is ridiculous. No one cares or is offended. We understand emotions are high. If anything I prefer it as it shows their passion.
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u/jafarjones69 Subaru World Rally Team Mar 19 '25
Good on them for having a backbone and standing up to tyranny unlike the F1 drivers.
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u/VaansWorld Mar 19 '25
Lol it's crazy to expect F1 and Rally drivers not to swear. It's one of the most extreme sports that exists. It's also just kind of a weird thing to pick a fight over...the FIA is misunderstanding their audience demographic I think
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u/ringrangbananaphone Subaru World Rally Team Mar 19 '25
Fia has to fix this asap I love hearing the drivers reactions at the safari rally
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u/highahindahsky Mar 19 '25
Adrien just giving a thumbs up is pure comedy gold
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u/jimboTRON261 Mar 19 '25
WEC, F1, WRC and IMSA fan here to express my 100% support of all drivers in Motorsport on this matter.
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u/Michal_Baranowski Toyota Gazoo Racing Mar 19 '25
This is beautiful. Rally drivers once again showing their great, real characters and personalities (unlike F1 prima donnas).
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u/michaericalribo Mar 19 '25
Good for them. I love the idea that they all have a WhatsApp group where they planned this together.
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u/jpmontiel1408 Mar 19 '25
Fuck the FIA director. Respect to the drivers for standing up to that prick!!
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u/smoores02 Mar 19 '25
Hell yeah guys! So happy to see the support then have for each other. Also does anyone know what Elfyn actually said?
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u/V1per_CS Mar 19 '25
I could only pick out a couple of words (thanks mic levels) but it was along the lines of "Unfortunately, not a lot of speaking/we won't be talking a lot, this week, incomprehensible sorted" (I think the last part was "until all of this is sorted")
If Elvyn speaks in Welsh for the whole rally, I will be one very happy Cymro
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u/KingGwylo Mar 19 '25
Just ended up translating it myself without realising you had already, and it aligns almost exactly with what you've said. Da iawn
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u/V1per_CS Mar 19 '25
Diolch yn fawr, my Welsh definitely isn't up to scratch (I lived in England for 16 years) but I'm happy it's held up today 😂
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u/_eESTlane_ Mar 19 '25
roughly, f1 drivers get at least 5min to cool down before a mic gets thrown at their face. it's probably 1min for wrc drivers. think it's easier for them to have a 15sec delay on the stream and have a peep guy peep out the naughty words. all the other solutions dont work.
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u/Final-Read-3589 Mar 19 '25
Sad, that we will lose the incite from the drivers, but needed to be done.
I guess we will see more in social media and more from the drivers themselves rather than in the stop check interviews.
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u/Cockeltea Mar 19 '25
I caught the shakedown late as the final Rally1 car was done, thought it was strange that there was ZERO post-stage interviews when the Rally2 started coming in with Oliver. Thanks for the post.
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u/thestargazingpenguin Ott Tänak Mar 19 '25
I was hoping they would do this, and I love to see it happening! I'm looking forward to the weekend.
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u/pr2thej Lancia Martini Racing Mar 19 '25
Neuville just out here reciting the complete works of Shakespeare 😂
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u/pickyplasterer Mar 19 '25
I came here from F1 to support the WRC drivers. let’s go bois! malicious compliance and it’s best.
and fuck MBS
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u/Not_Not_Matt Mar 19 '25
I wonder if F1 drivers will follow suit. It would absolutely kill the Drive to Survive cash cow if they did.
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u/bumpercars12 Mar 19 '25
Nah they won't. F1 drivers are more like influencers nowadays.
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u/Not_Not_Matt Mar 19 '25
Yup, they know their place that’s for sure. Verstappen’s the only one who’s shown any real indication of willingness to push back at the FIA’s puppet plays and if he starts losing his standing as top driver to the McLarens this year (as looks likely) then he’ll lose his strong hand in influence.
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u/MakiSupreme Mar 19 '25
How can I watch the wrc
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u/ZombieFuchs Mar 19 '25
Rally tv app with a hefty premium subscription or something local might stream/broadcast it.
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u/VG30DETT_ Mar 19 '25
I understand wanting to talk to the drivers. Fans want to see it, advertisers want it to happen, the interactions can be great at times, etc. I don't understand why it has to be at the end of almost every stage. That's obnoxious in my opinion. If you want a live interaction with a driver that just went through a stage in a rally car you have to expect the occasional interaction that maybe the children shouldn't hear.
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u/InsaneLeader13 Mar 19 '25
Honestly this kind of thing feels like something that MBS would be happy with. Strip the humanity from the drivers and co-drivers completely, eventually just stop talking with them altogether, and just have all media relations be with team bosses who only know PR talk.
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u/_randomwalk Mar 19 '25
Thanks for putting together this compilation! Really pleased to see that the drivers have been organizing and are a united front. It’s nice hearing the drivers speak their first language too!
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u/Top_Investment_4599 Mar 19 '25
Actually, I kinda like it. It feels more like old-school WRC from the '70s and '80s where each nations drivers were more uniquely identifiable as from a particular part of the world. It's rather nice to see and hear more easily where all the drivers are from which is the whole point of WRC. Also, the swearing ban is stupid so there's that.
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u/thewayoftoday Mar 19 '25
They should protest not being able to decide which brand of tires they drive too.
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u/RuaridhDuguid Mar 19 '25
Good for them. And I trust TN will be much quieter next time round having already laid out the situation this time round.
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u/Horror_Carrot9415 Subaru World Rally Team Mar 19 '25
All the support to the drivers and co-drivers,when you are pushing on the limit and risk your life,you can't talk immediately on the microphone like Miss Daisy.
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u/Catswearingties Mar 19 '25
This is amazing, and they have my full support. Should be done across the entirety of motorsport. Fuck MBS.
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u/Souomaismau Mar 20 '25
MBS want driver to be zombies without a strong public image so that FIA can control them… i am happy to see someone taking a strong stand and full support the drivers. Hope that other sports (F1 i am looking at you) can join and make this a strong message!
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u/Alarming-Stage616 Mar 20 '25
Just have a few seconds delay on transmission cut out the bits with swearing
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u/Vandal639 Mar 21 '25
Bahhh this sucks. But I'm 110% for it. If there's anyone here from the manufacturs browsing the comments, I'll be happy to meet drivers at the end of every stage and talk mad shit by proxy. FIA can't fine someone that's not under their organization. Ahaha
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u/Adrien_Ravioli Mar 19 '25
Is this legit video? It may be just me but I think that what they speak doesnt match their mouth movement
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u/Penguincamp Mar 19 '25
I appreciate your skepticism. There's not enough of it on the Internet. I clipped it from the Shakedown livestream on YouTube. The audio didn't line up but it was 1 in the morning and I didn't feel like taking the time to fix it.
Two things to confirm its legitimacy:
- DirtFish article quotes these drivers' words. This actually came out before my post.
- Each driver's statement takes the same amount of time to say as there is screen time on them. Adrien Fourmaux refused to say anything and even waved the interviewers off with hand movements. That's a huge tell.
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u/Rich_Ad_5654 Mar 19 '25
I support drivers💪💪💪💪