Rally stars of course have to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, rest and sleep the same as the rest of us do, but the long and challenging race days in Portugal meant most of these essentials were at a premium.

Despite finishing on the podium, Tänak said of the event "I feel like we were treated like animals. We were just there for the show."

"On Friday we had eight minutes to eat something. We didn't even have time to go to the bathroom," the Hyundai driver went on.

Both Friday and Saturday's race days took the drivers away from the main service park for 15 hours, he said, adding they were not allowed back into the service park on the Sunday either. "They put us in the car for 15 hours and that was it. [On Saturday] another 15 hours in the car. At least we got to eat some lunch, that was something. But on Sunday the team couldn't bring us any food until the finish line," the 2019 world champion continued.

Tänak was not alone in his criticisms, finding backing from double world champion Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota).

Rovanperä said: "We keep on talking about safety, but then we get four or five hours of sleep per night the whole weekend. We managed, but I don't know how smart it is."

"We try to stay awake between stages, but at some point, that gets difficult. I don't feel that sitting in a car for 15 hours is the best solution," the Finn, who finished one place behind Tänak in third position, added.

Tensions have been rising in recent years between the drivers and the International Automobile Federation (FIA), while, Tänak said organizers are not listening to the drivers' pleas. "We've been giving them ideas for years about how we think rallies should be run. We take the spectators into consideration too. I really love competing in Portugal. I love the roads there, the people, the atmosphere. It's amazing — but the schedule wasn't."

The FIA has previously stated that it plans to make changes to the structure of the World Rally Championship, aiming to make rallies more compact and exciting.

Tänak dominated early at the weekend's rally despite all the issues, winning 7 of the first 16 stages, though after losing power steering on stage 17, he fell back to second place behind eventual race winner Sébastien Ogier. The Estonian bounced back on the Sunday—winning all bar one of the half-dozen final stages, which gave him the maximum 10 points for the day, and 17 points for finishing second overall.

Since the overall WRC drivers' table leader Elfyn Evans (Toyota) only managed nine points in Portugal, Tänak and the other competitors have closed the gap on him; Tänak has also leapfrogged his teammate at Hyundai, reigning world champion Thierry Neuville (Belgium). While Neuville was, going into the weekend, two points ahead of Tänak and in fourth place in the table, the positions are reversed and the Estonian is now six points ahead of the Belgian, though with nine more rounds to go in the season.

The next race is in Sardinia next month.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!