UPDATE (5 March 2026): The FIA has confirmed that Bottas will not serve the grid penalty. Under sporting regulation B2.5.4, unserved grid penalties expire after 12 months. Since the penalty was issued at Abu Dhabi 2024 — well outside that window — it no longer applies. Bottas enters Melbourne with a clean slate. The FIA’s earlier stance that “there is no mechanism to retroactively amend penalties” has quietly been overridden by the regulations themselves. Sometimes the bureaucracy works, eventually.

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The FIA made Valtteri Bottas wait 455 days to serve a grid penalty.

That’s not a typo. Bottas collected a five-place drop for punting Magnussen at Abu Dhabi 2024. Lost his Sauber seat. Spent all of 2025 holding clipboards for Mercedes. Now he’ll finally serve it at Melbourne 2026, walking into his Cadillac debut already five places down.

Carlos sainz is not my favorite driver. I don’t even like him because I think he’s too whiny. Then again he’s no different from the rest with Lando being the worst offender in my opinion. But Carlos didn’t deserve to end the Azerbaijan GP in that way. Especially after that magnificent move he pulled. His moves left Perez flat footed after Charles defended turn 1 like a champion. Carlos didn’t tip toe, didn’t sneak, but strutted confidently past the Mexican. It felt like Checo was slowing down for double waved yellows. Sainz’s confidence was supreme enough that he almost whizzed past his teammate. He only backed out of the move because he didn’t have the room to pull it off.