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JOHNNYBET

Bottas grid penalty dropped

NEWS STORY
05/03/2026

Valtteri Bottas will not have to serve the 5-place grid drop meted out to him in Abu Dhabi 2024.

As it stood, the regulations stipulated that even though well over a year had passed, the Finn's debut with Cadillac would be marked by the penalty.

Ironically, the penalty was for clashing with Sergio Perez, who is now his teammate at the American team.

Article B1.9.5h of the 2026 sporting regulations defines a grid penalty as "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", leaving Bottas was none the wiser as to whether he would serve the penalty or not.

However, a slight change to B2.5.4b, appeared to give the Finn the all-clear.

"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," states the revised rule.

"Apparently it's vanished thanks to some new regulation," Bottas told reporters. "So, no grid penalty."

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