Valtteri Bottas makes his return to the Formula 1 grid this week with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, as part of the new Cadillac team.
And the veteran driver received some unexpected good news ahead of that return.
Bottas was named as one of the new team’s drivers for their inaugural season, alongside fellow veteran Sergio Pérez. But Bottas was facing a five-place grid penalty in his return race, thanks to an incident that happened the last time he was on the F1 grid, in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Rather unexpectedly, that penalty has “vanished.”
“No, I just did an announcement 20 minutes ago. Apparently, it’s vanished,” said Bottas during the FIA Press Conference Thursday in Melbourne. “Thanks to some new regulation, so no grid penalty.”
You can see his announcement on social media here:
The penalty that “vanished” stems from an incident during the last time Bottas was on the grid, the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to close out that season. Driving for Sauber, Bottas was involved in two separate incidents during the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, both of which drew the attention of race stewards. The first collision came early in the race, when Bottas collided with Sergio Pérez (his new Cadillac teammate) at Turn 6.
Then, later in the race, Bottas was adjudged to have caused another collision at Turn 6, this time with Kevin Magnussen.
While Bottas was given a ten-second penalty and a pair of penalty points on his FIA Super License for the first infraction, race officials delivered a much stiffer penalty for the second. Ruling that Bottas “misjudged his braking significantly,” they imposed a drive-through penalty.
But given that Bottas had already retired from the race when that decision was handed down, it was converted to a five-place grid drop “for the next Race in which the driver participates,” along with three penalty points on his FIA Super License.
Bottas spent the entire 2025 season as a reserve driver at Mercedes, which means that this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix will be the “… next Race in which the driver participates.”
Ahead of this season, F1’s governing body instituted a change to the Sporting Regulations that goes into effect for this season to address this situation. Under a revised Section B1.10.4(g), any grid-drop penalties imposed by race officials will be governed by this language: “A drop of any number of grid positions for the next Sprint or Race in which the driver participates in the subsequent twelve (12) month period.”
In the buildup to the 2026 season, it was believed that rule change would not apply to Bottas’ situation, given that he was given the penalty prior to the new rule.
It would seem that has changed, now that the penalty has “vanished.”
