One of the hottest topics in Formula 1 right now is the new rules implemented by the FIA over swearing.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were punished for swearing during official press conferences last year, but the rules have been made much stricter in 2025.
Carlos Sainz has just been named as a GPDA director and he – alongside George Russell – will now be involved in discussions with the FIA over similar issues.
However, it’s likely to bubble away throughout the season and one of the points that has upset some drivers is how their radio messages could now be policed.
Yuki Tsunoda has been told to copy Oscar Piastri’s radio messages as he could be one driver who falls foul of any punishment should the FIA tighten their rules even further.
But every driver – no matter how calm they normally are – can occasionally get so frustrated that they share their issues with their teams.
Lando Norris isn’t known for being overly harsh to his McLaren team but there was one occasion when he let his annoyance get to him.
The subject of his anger was Jose Manuel Lopez, and Sauber have now moved to bring him in to be Gabriel Bortoleto’s race engineer for 2025.
Sauber name Jose Manuel Lopez as Gabriel Bortoleto’s F1 race engineer
A report from Motorsport has shared more details about Sauber finalising their race team ahead of the 2025 season.
Lopez arrives from McLaren which means he likely already has a relationship with the Formula 2 champion.
Bortoleto was poached from McLaren’s academy last year when it became clear that his pathway into F1 was blocked by Norris and Piastri.
READ MORE: Who is 2025 Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know
Lopez was Norris’ performance engineer at McLaren but if his normal race engineer Will Norris was unavailable, he would step into his role.
It’s an exciting promotion for Lopez to work alongside one of F1’s most promising young talents this year.
With Audi’s takeover on the horizon, things are only going to head in one direction at Sauber, even if 2025 could be painful for the team who finished bottom of the constructors’ championship last year.
Lando Norris once went on angry rant at Jose Manuel Lopez at McLaren
One of the races that Lopez filled in as Norris’ race engineer was during the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris qualified on the front row alongside Verstappen, while Liam Lawson made his F1 debut that weekend, replacing Daniel Ricciardo at short notice.
The race was heavily affected by changing weather conditions and when Norris complained that he was ‘too slow’, Lopez let him know that he was quicker than his rivals who were on different tyres.
Norris’ radio response was simply, “What the f—! Are you stupid?” with the Brit eventually coming home in P7.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration
After the race, Norris quickly apologised to Lopez in his press conference and said: “We just spoke about it a bit now.
“When you look at it after, I always make myself look like an idiot, and I get that.
“But the people that I speak to know that I would never mean something like that. It’s more we made some mistakes with our calls, our strategy, and things like that.
“A bit of it is just emotions at the time. I think I said the other day, I always sound like I’m crying or I’m moaning on the radio. I don’t know why. I hate it but I feel like I’m really relaxed and chilled in the car, but then I’m always the opposite when I listen to myself after.”
Lopez will hope that Bortoleto doesn’t react in the same way as Norris during races, but will know that the young Brazilian will have equally high standards once he makes his debut.
