Valtteri Bottas will begin his Formula 1 return with Cadillac without the burden of a grid penalty dating back more than a year, after a change to the sport’s regulations removed certain unserved sanctions.
Bottas, who did not race during the 2025 season, had been expected to face a five-place grid drop at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The penalty was imposed in his final race for Sauber at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December 2024, following a collision with then-Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez.
A Penalty From Abu Dhabi, Involving a Future Teammate
The incident that triggered the sanction is now a notable footnote for Cadillac’s debut, because Pérez is Bottas’ new teammate at the American start-up outfit. The crash in Abu Dhabi also marked Pérez’s last race before he too sat out the 2025 season, making the pair’s reunion in 2026 unusually intertwined with their most recent on-track contact.
Under the previous sporting rules, Bottas would have been required to serve the penalty at the next race in which he competed. That would have effectively carried a 2024 sanction into his first competitive outing back on the grid.
The Regulation Update That Wiped It Away
An update to Article B2.5.4 of F1’s sporting regulations changed the outcome. The revised wording states that unserved grid penalties for the race imposed in the previous twelve (12) months will be removed. As a result, Bottas’ outstanding grid drop is now considered expired and will not apply in Melbourne.
The tweak prevents drivers returning after time away from automatically carrying older penalties into their next appearance, and it removes what would have been an unusual competitive handicap for Bottas before he had even completed a race lap in his comeback.
Cadillac’s Launch Context in Melbourne
Cadillac enters Formula 1 this season as the 11th team on the grid and will compete with a Ferrari engine deal. Bottas and Pérez have both been handed the opportunity to restart their F1 careers with the new project, as the team begins what it has framed as a long-term build.
Early expectations suggest Cadillac could be battling to avoid the bottom of the order, with Aston Martin also described as struggling in the opening competitive picture. For Cadillac, the removal of Bottas’ penalty eliminates an immediate, avoidable setback as it tries to establish itself from its first weekend.