Cadillac boss Graeme Lowdon has questioned the fairness of Valtteri Bottas carrying over a grid penalty into his debut with the team in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Bottas, who was recently confirmed as one of the drivers for Cadillac’s inaugural season in the sport, will have to serve a five-place grid penalty next season in Melbourne.
This carries over from his final race in Abu Dhabi, where the Finn collided with Kevin Magnussen.
Stewards judged Bottas had “misjudged his braking significantly” at Turn 6 and issued a drive-through penalty. This was later converted to a five-place grid drop after his race retirement.
Lowdon admitted that whilst the team accepts the penalty, it highlights an awkward gap in the regulations.
“It’s just a quirk of the regulations, isn’t it?” he told the official F1 channel.
“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.”
The FIA has since updated the sporting code to prevent long-delayed penalties from impacting future teams.
The governing body has introduced a 12-month expiry period for penalties. However, the clause is not effective immediately, ensuring that Bottas is bound by the original rules.
Although the change in rules may have some thinking Cadillac and Bottas were hard done by, Lowdon stressed that the team would not seek to overturn the decision.
Instead, he emphasised that the team will work around it and race to whatever regulations are set in the sport.
“We have to respect the regs, otherwise it’s not sport anymore, it’s pantomime. Whatever the regs are, we’ll race to them,” he said.
For Bottas, the penalty adds yet another challenge to his new chapter in F1. Following his year out of the sport, the Finn will return in one of the most closely watched debuts in 2026.
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