Why Valtteri Bottas is likely to serve outstanding F1 grid penalty on Cadillac debut

Valtteri Bottas will still have to serve his outstanding five-place grid penalty if his next race in F1 is with Cadillac at the start of 2026.

Bottas picked up a grid penalty after colliding with Kevin Magnussen in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, that was Bottas’ last race in F1, having failed to land a Sauber drive for 2025.

While Bottas has remained active in F1 as Mercedes’ test and reserve driver, he has not raced in a grand prix since Abu Dhabi last year.

Bottas could race for Mercedes this year, should George Russell or Kimi Antonelli be unable to.

If he does so, he will have to serve the penalty for Mercedes.

The FIA have made a rule tweak which initially suggested that Bottas' penalty would expire before his expected full-time return to the grid with Cadillac.

However, it's now been clarified by the FIA that this new rule tweak won't be applied retrospectively, thus, Bottas will is set to serve his penalty in Australia 2026 (or earlier if he races this season).

Article B1.10.4g of the FIA’s sporting regulations now states “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”.

It also means Jenson Button's three-place grid penalty for an incident at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix remains.

Bottas set for F1 return

Numerous outlets, such as RN365, reported that Bottas has become Cadillac’s first F1 driver signing.

F1 approved Cadillac’s bid to join the grid as the sport’s 11th team in March.

Cadillac have been in no rush to decide their F1 drivers for 2026 because the existing 10 teams have their line ups locked down for next year.

Bottas has been heavily linked with a return to F1 with Cadillac, and an announcement seems imminent.

Sergio Perez could be set to be Bottas’ teammate at Cadillac, forming an all-star midfield line up.

If Perez secures the seat, Mick Schumacher and Felipe Drugovich have missed out.