Why outstanding F1 grid penalty won't be served in unexpected twist

Valtteri Bottas will not be hit with a grid penalty on his F1 debut with Cadillac after all, following a change to the regulations. 

Bottas was due to drop five places from wherever he qualifies on the season-opening Australian Grand Prix grid this weekend as a result of an outstanding F1 penalty.

The 36-year-old Finn is returning to the grid this season with F1’s newest and 11th team, having spent a year on the sidelines as Mercedes’ reserve driver in 2025.

In Bottas’s last F1 race at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before losing his Sauber seat, he was involved in a collision with former Red Bull driver and now Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez.

Bottas tagged Perez into a spin on the first lap of the 2024 season finale and earned a 10-second time penalty. Later in the race, he locked up both front wheels and drove into the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Having picked up damage, Bottas retired from the race. Unable to serve the drive-through penalty he picked up for ramming into Magnussen, the stewards converted the penalty into a five-place grid penalty for the next race he contests.

As Bottas did not compete last year, there was no opportunity for him to serve the penalty, meaning that “next race” technically would come in Melbourne this weekend. 

Bottas even mentioned his apparent grid penalty as recently as pre-season testing in Bahrain. 

However, updates to the sporting regulations include a change to article B2.5.4, which states that for cases of 15 or less cumulative “unserved grid penalties for the Race imposed in the previous twelve (12) months” are taken into account when forming the grid.

Penalties outside of that therefore do not apply, meaning Bottas will not serve his penalty. 

Bottas confirmed this in a post on Instagram before bringing it up in Thursday's FIA drivers' press conference in Melbourne. 

“You don't follow me on Instagram?” Bottas joked when asked about the grid penalty situation. “I just did an announcement 20 minutes ago. Apparently it's vanished thanks to some new regulation.

"So no grid penalty. It is good.”