Why Valtteri Bottas’ Australian GP grid penalty has disappeared with FIA tweak

Valtteri Bottas revealed he will not serve a long-held grid penalty in Australia, describing it as “good news” for him all round.

He had been due to serve a five-place penalty for an offence at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which he had not been able to serve while on the sidelines as Mercedes reserve last season.

Why Valtteri Bottas will no longer serve Australian GP grid penalty

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PlanetF1.com reported last summer that, despite Bottas being off the grid, he would be forced to serve his penalty upon returning as a Cadillac driver.

The FIA confirmed to PlanetF1.com over the summer that “there is no mechanism to retroactively amend the penalty that was applied under the regulations in force at the time”, despite a 12-month timer having been introduced to grid penalties in the 2026 Sporting Regulations.

However, a fresh tweak in the wording ahead of the campaign has appeared to wipe Bottas’ penalty, with the language in the updated Sporting Regulations stating that any grid penalty should be served in the following 12 months.

On a nominally empty grid, Article B2.5.4b(i) now states that, after qualifying: “Classified drivers who have received 15 or less cumulative unserved grid penalties for the Race imposed in the previous twelve (12) months will be allocated a temporary grid position equal to their Qualifying session classification plus the sum of their unserved grid penalties.”

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While the regulation previously read that a grid penalty would apply in the next race in which a driver competes, regardless of time, and the previous update put a 12-month limit on grid penalties being served, that did not cover Bottas at the time.

Now, with the wording of “unserved grid penalties… imposed in the previous twelve (12) months”, that has placed a back-limit of a year for a grid penalty to be served, which now renders Bottas’ punishment expired.

The Cadillac driver gleefully announced the news via social media on Thursday that he was in the clear from his previous transgression, and when addressing PlanetF1.com and other media, joked when asked about the penalty: “You don’t follow me on Instagram? I just did an announcement 20 minutes ago.

“Apparently it’s vanished.

“Yeah, thanks to some new regulation. So no grid penalty. It is good.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

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