Ott Tänak says it’s “really difficult to know how to act” in interviews following the FIA’s sanctions for comments made by World Rally Championship rival Sebastian Ogier and Formula 1’s Max Verstappen.
The Hyundai driver has raised concerns after the FIA handed Ogier a €30,000 suspended fine for comments the Toyota driver directed at officials regarding hanging dust at the end of the opening stage of Acropolis Rally Greece, earlier this month.
Ogier’s incident preceded a move by the FIA to clamp down on F1 drivers swearing in official press conferences, resulting in three-time world champion Verstappen being issued with a public service order for swearing at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen then later staged a protest by offering short answers in the post-qualifying press conference.
Speaking in a stage-end interview after Thursday’s Rally Chile shakedown, Tanak was asked what he was excited about looking ahead to the event, which was met with a cryptic “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.”
When asked to later explain his comments, he added: “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.
Pressed on if he is concerned by the direction that is being taken by the FIA with driver interviews, he 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.
“It is difficult to say at the moment what is the target, 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.”
Looking ahead to the rally, Tanak is among the favourites for success on Chile’s gravel roads having won the previous two editions.
The Estonian was victorious in 2019 driving for Toyota before winning last year’s battle on the abrasive gravel roads for M-Sport-Ford.
Tanak remains firmly in the title fight albeit 34 points adrift of team-mate Thierry Neuville while his Hyundai team is leading the constructors’ championship by 35 points from Toyota.
“We need to fight for the points and in the manufacturers’ championship it is also tight and obviously Toyota is pushing very hard so it is not really possible to give many points away,” he added.
“We still need to at least try to match them and try to outscore them. It is still a long way to go and many points on the table.
“It is a rally I like a lot it has a very nice profile and it is a pure performance event. It will be about how we get ourselves working as we have been struggling on these kinds of surface with the car, so hopefully we find a bit better balance for this one.”
