Cadillac accept rules “quirk” means Bottas will serve grid penalty at team’s first race

Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowden says his driver Valtteri Bottas shouldn’t have to serve a grid penalty at their first race next year.

However Lowden said the team accepts Bottas will have to move back five places on the grid for next year’s season-opener to serve a penalty he incurred on his last appearance in Formula 1 at the end of 2024.

“It’s just a quirk of the regulations, isn’t it?” said Lowden in an interview for the official F1 channel. “It’s just how it is, that kind of thing.”

“I’m not going to start trying to change regs or whatever but it does highlight a bit of a quirk in the regulations,” he continued. “I don’t think a team should be penalised for that, especially when there’s such a long gap after it.

“But if that’s the interpretation of the rules, so be it.”

Bottas collected a five-place grid penalty for colliding with Kevin Magnussen during last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The stewards ruled Bottas “misjudged his braking significantly” at turn six, triggering the collision with Magnussen’s Haas chassis.

The stewards deemed the incident serious enough to hand Bottas a drive-through penalty. However as he retired from the race this was converted into a five-place grid drop for his next event.

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Bottas lost his seat at Sauber for this season but Cadillac confirmed last month he will drive for them when they join the grid next year. Therefore Bottas’s next event will be the first round on the 2026 F1 calendar in Melbourne, Australia.

The FIA subsequently introduced a clause setting a 12-month time limit on any penalties when they are issued. However as this does not apply retroactively, Bottas’s penalty still stands.

“We have to respect the regs, otherwise it’s not sport anymore, it’s pantomime,” said Lowden. “Whatever the regs are, we’ll race to them.”

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