Why Valtteri Bottas won’t now serve his pending five-place grid penalty if he joins Cadillac in 2026

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Valtteri Bottas’ return to the F1 grid for the 2026 season may have been hindered by the possibility of having to serve a grid penalty in his first race back.

Cadillac are preparing to announce Bottas before the end of the summer break, with the Finnish driver looking like he’s finally got his opportunity to return to the grid after failing to secure a drive in 2025.

Juan Pablo Montoya has warned Cadillac about Bottas, arguing that they will need to seek replacements for him immediately, due to his opinion that he isn’t a driver to put all of their efforts into for the future as they enter their maiden season in the sport.

Amid reports of Bottas replacing Stroll at the Canadian GP, the Silverstone-based team would have had to start the race on the back foot due to a five-place grid penalty that the 35-year-old incurred at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last December for an incident with Kevin Magnussen.

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The FIA amended the sporting regulations in July which negates Valtteri Bottas’ grid penalty

In a revision of the FIA’s sporting regulations for F1, released on the 31st July, the governing body of the sport revised the process for how long grid drop penalties last before they are made redundant.

Previously, article 54.3 of the sporting regulations stated that a grid penalty would incur the following punishment: “A drop of any number of grid positions at the driver’s next race.”

However, this has now been updated to, “A drop of any number of grid positions for the driver’s next Sprint or Race in which the driver participates in the subsequent twelve (12) month period.”

As Bottas was slapped with the penalty after the race in the United Arab Emirates in December, the revision of the rule means that he will not have to serve it upon his potential return to the grid with Cadillac in March 2026.

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Who will partner Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac for the 2026 F1 season?

The leading name for a seat at Cadillac throughout the current campaign has been Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver has a vast number of years in F1, with four of those being served at the front-running Red Bull team.

F1 fans are keen on seeing Perez partner Bottas, with both drivers offering a ‘solid’ line-up for the team who will greatly benefit from having two experienced drivers in discussions about how best to develop their first F1 car into potentially race-winning machinery.

However, Perez may be upset with Cadillac due to the fact that Bottas’ announcement is on the way first. The Mexican driver has been adamant in not being the team’s second driver, so you can understand why the order in which the news has emerged might irk him.

The financial backing Perez brings is a huge bonus for Cadillac, so they may not want to upset one of their drivers before the announcement is made official. Bottas is unable to bring in the same amount of buzz in terms of sponsorship deals, which could prove to be an issue later on down the line.