Max Verstappen protest spreads as fellow World Champion targets FIA after €30,000 fine

Max Verstappen’s protest against the FIA at the Singapore Grand Prix has spread to this weekend’s Rally Chile, where WRC legend Sebastien Ogier has adopted the Red Bull F1 driver’s tactics.

Verstappen was reprimanded for using foul language at an FIA press conference before last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix and instructed him to ‘do some good deed’, provided by F1’s governing body.

These teams join Max Verstappen fight against FIA as world rally championship legend follows his lead
It arrived only days after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem demanded an end to drivers’ use of obscene language in race situations, arguing that ‘we should not compare our sport with rap music’.

Punishing Verstappen and giving him two sets of penalties forced him to barely speak in the FIA post-qualifying and post-race press conferences at Marina Bay – he even organized his own media conference in the paddack between the FIA imposed sessions.

Verstappen’s actions were backed by his competitors, such as the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who called on his rival to disregard the FIA’s penalty.

And Verstappen’s stance has now been adopted by eight-time WRC title winner Ogier, who has also taken issue with the FIA after being hit with a suspended €30,000 fine at the previous round in Greece.

With hanging dust an issue on gravel-based rally events, Ogier complained about the short intervals between cars in Greece after his visibility on the opening stage was compromised.

It is annoying to see that the sport never learns,” Ogier said at the end of the stage.

“We ask. We know that we are going to have dust. There is hanging dust. They say no. What do you have in your head? Nothing. It’s crazy.”

Those comments were deemed to have breached Article 12.2.1.f of the FIA International Sporting Code, which relates to “any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA.”

As a result, Ogier was hit with a €30,000 suspended fine with the Toyota driver taking a stand against the FIA in Chile as the WRC season resumed on Friday.

Ogier kept his answers to television crews to a minimum at the end of each stage, before accusing the FIA of forcing drivers “to shut our mouths” at the midday service on Friday.

Ogier told the WRC’s live coverage of Rally Chile: “You realise that I didn’t really want to talk today, we’ve been told that we shouldn’t at the moment.

“It is not a fantastic reaction to do what I do and it is not personal against [the media] and for the fans I am sorry about it but we have very little tools we can use.

“Today I don’t feel like I want to talk and I am sorry for all the people that deserve better than that.

“But we have been told by the top of the FIA to shut our mouths, so it is a bit sad.”

In an apparent reference to Verstappen’s punishment in Singapore, Ogier added: “It is not only in rally at the moment, but let’s see what the future brings.”

The protest was supported by the 2019 World Rally Championship winner Ott Tanak, who added that ‘it is very hard sometimes to understand what to do’ as ‘these are rather unusual times’ for motor racing.

Tanak caught the attention at the end of the shakedown stage on Thursday in Chile, where he told television crews: “It will be interesting to see what the rally will be.”

“Well, very interesting times right now . Don’t know how much can be revealed but I am in dream run all cars.”

When later prompted on the remark by media outlets he wearing the Hyundai driver’s suit admitted that his caution in front of the camera was because of the action taken by the FIA against Verstappen and Ogier.

He said: “I meant it is strange times in motorsport in general where one has to be cautious how one holds their opinions and how they react, emotions are not welcome for now.

“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. At the moment, it is therefore hard to determine what the target is.

Perhaps the promoter should take us aside and really tell us what they expect from us but for that moments, to do stage-end interviews without showing any emotion, that is not easy to know how to proceed.

“It is an interesting time.”