WRC drivers press FIA to ease misconduct stance, ‘inspired’ by F1 colleagues

As the 2025 motorsport season kicks into gear one topic has been at the forefront of discussions.

Swearing.

Last year’s Formula 1 season saw a few drivers — including Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen — fined for their use of language. Verstappen, for example, was ordered to conduct community service after swearing during the FIA Press Conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

In an effort to normalize the penalties that race officials can hand out for “misconduct” the sport’s governing body issued changes to the Sporting Code. In a new “Appendix B,” drivers face escalating fines, suspensions, and even a deduction of championship points for “misconduct,” which includes language and swearing.

Now, the driver first penalized under the new Appendix B has joined forces with his fellow World Rally Championship drivers to press the FIA on the issue.

Adrian Fourmaux was the first driver penalized under the new Appendix B, when he swore during a post-race interview at the Rally of Sweden. Now, Fourmaux has joined forces with the other WRC drivers to form the World Rally Drivers Alliance (WoRDA), the equivalent of F1’s Grand Prix Drivers Association. In a statement released on social media and signed by the drivers, the WoRDA declared that there has been an “alarming increase in the severity of the sanctions imposed for minor, isolated and unintentional language lapses” which “has reached an unacceptable level.”

Fourmaux was fined €30,000, €20,000 of which was suspended, for swearing.

The WoRDA also called for greater “transparency” regarding the fines, echoing a request made by the GPDA.

Their statement concludes with a call for “direct communication and engagement between the FIA president and WoRDA members to find a mutually agreeable and urgent solution.”

The letter, which you can read in full here, was signed by the entire 2025 field of drivers, as well as select WRC2 crews, and eight-time world champion Julien Ingrassia.