Rally Estonia leader Oliver Solberg has been awarded a suspended €2,000 fine for using “inappropriate language” at the WRC’s ‘Meet the Crews’ session on Friday night.
Solberg was also given an official reprimand for using the F-word – saying “f***ing win” in what has been defined as a ‘controlled environment’.
The stewards recognized that the word in question “has become colloquial and is often used as an expression of emotion, particularly by the younger generation” but the FIA “remains committed to ensuring that inappropriate language is not used in any controlled area such as media conferences”.
They also took into account the fact English is not Solberg’s first language, he meant it in a “funny context” and he issued an “unprompted apology” to the stewards and the FIA during the hearing.
Language used by WRC drivers was a burning topic earlier in the season, when Adrien Fourmaux was fined €10,000 (with a further €20,000 of that suspended) for using the same word as Solberg in an end-of-stage interview.
That prompted the creation of the World Rally Drivers’ Alliance (WoRDA) which successfully pushed to define ‘controlled’ and ‘uncontrolled’ zones with the FIA.
‘Meet the Crews’ is considered a ‘controlled’ zone because adrenaline was not spiking Solberg’s emotion.