FIA confirms Valtteri Bottas punishment after Spanish Grand Prix investigation
Valtteri Bottas has had a few run ins with the FIA over the course of his F1 career
Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas has been hit with a warning by the FIA stewards for failing to follow the race director’s instructions in FP3 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Bottas was classified 21st in the final practice session in Madrid as Mercedes driver and F1 2026 championship leader Kimi Antonelli set the pace.
Valtteri Bottas gets FIA warning after Spanish GP incident
Traffic has proven an issue so far at the new Madring circuit, with Bottas’s former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton coming under criticism from a number of drivers in FP1 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Williams driver Alex Albon was handed a warning for his attempts to move out of the way of Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls car.
Bottas fell foul of the same guidance as Albon in FP3, with the Cadillac driver attracting the attention of the stewards as he tried to make way for an approaching car.
The Finn has been handed a warning ahead of qualifying in Madrid.
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The stewards’ verdict: “The Stewards reviewed video and in-car video evidence.
“The driver of Car 77 slowed down before Turn 5 to make way for an incoming car.
“When approaching the corner, he accelerated to make way for another incoming car, left the track while being to the right of the yellow line, but re-joined the track without staying to the right of the bollard in the runoff area.
“The Stewards acknowledge the efforts of the driver to manage traffic, but determine that it would have been possible to follow the instructions given in the Race Director’s Competition Notes.”
Cadillac, the first brand-new team to arrive on the grid since fellow US outfit Haas in 2016, remains the only team yet to score a point in the F1 2026 season.
Bottas recorded the team’s best result of the campaign in China in March, finishing 13th.
As reported by PlanetF1.com, Bottas recently played down concerns that the arrival of former Renault/Alpine executive Marcin Budkowski could put his future with Cadillac at risk.
Bottas is understood to have a close relationship with Budkowski’s immediate predecessor, Graeme Lowdon, who was replaced during the summer break.
Asked if Budkowski’s arrival could have ramifications for his hopes of staying at Cadillac, Bottas, who turned 37 in August, confirmed that his seat is safe for the F1 2027 campaign.
He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Not in the near future. I’m still all set obviously for next year.
“But then eventually we’re going to talk about what is happening beyond ’27, but that’s not yet.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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