F1 race bans, a 455-day FIA penalty and pre-planned DNFs- brace yourself for the Australian Grand Prix

The wait is over and the first race week of the highly-anticipated F1 2026 season has arrived, but with it comes some major setbacks for certain teams and drivers.

Soon, the stars of the 2026 grid will be strolling into the Melbourne paddock for Thursday's official media day ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, and boy will they have plenty to talk about.

Before the 11 teams and any of their drivers have even hit the track, there are already some major storylines you need to be aware of.

A popular comeback for one F1 driver has already hit a block in the road (figuratively) and where Adrian Newey's new Aston Martin squad are concerned, they'll be lucky to even make it across the finish line.

Here's why...

F1 HEADLINES: Newey in firing line as Aston Martin may deliberately DNF

F1 star flirting with a 2026 race ban

Thanks to the complete overhaul of the chassis and power unit regulations this season, many of the sport's biggest names such as Max Verstappen and fellow champion Lewis Hamilton have been outspoken about their concerns with the new rules.

And whilst there are many new terms and tactics for the drivers to get their head around before the season opener, Haas F1 driver Ollie Bearman has one objective this weekend- to keep his racing clean.

In fact, the British driver will need to ensure he stays on the good side of F1's governing body for the first six race weekends of the season given he currently has 10 penalty points to his name, the first of which do not expire until May 23, 2026.

The FIA hands out disciplinary penalty points for driving infringements, which are then added to a driver's FIA Super Licence, with 12 points in a 12-month period enough to trigger a race ban.

At the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, Bearman received a penalty point and a five-second penalty for making more than one change of direction whilst defending on track against the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

This incident bumped his penalty points total up to 10, putting him just two away from a one race ban, something which he will remain at risk of until the Canadian GP, which is still over two months away.

When a set of penalty points are issued, the driver must wait 12 months until they expire, something which will not happen to Bearman until May 23, when the two points he incurred for overtaking under red flag conditions at last year's Monaco GP will be removed from his licence.

A 455-day FIA penalty to be served in Melbourne

F1 fans were delighted upon hearing the news that quirky Finnish racer Valtteri Bottas had been handed a lifeline by new F1 team Cadillac last year, when he was announced as part of their very first full-time F1 driver lineup.

Bottas last raced on the F1 grid in 2024 with Sauber but was left without a seat for 2025 when the squad opted to start fresh with their driver lineup ahead of their transformation into Audi.

After spending a year on the sidelines as a Mercedes F1 reserve driver and part-time social media star, Bottas is back on the grid along with ex-Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, with the pair tasked with helping Cadillac get their feet off the ground as they hope to develop into a fully fledged competitive F1 squad.

But the American team have already been hit with a setback thanks to Bottas and the FIA penalty that he never got the chance to serve before being dropped by Sauber.

If Bottas had remained on the sidelines of the sport he would have gotten away with never having to pay for his most recent FIA punishment, which he picked up following a collision with Kevin Magnussen at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP.

At the season finale, Bottas was slapped with a five-place grid penalty for the incident, and will now have to serve it 455 days after receiving it from F1's governing body.

During his final race before taking a year away from being a full-time driver, the 36-year-old was handed, "a drop of five grid positions for the next race in which the driver participates".

After Bottas was confirmed to be making a comeback to the sport with Cadillac in 2026, confusion began to spread over whether the ex-Sauber star would have to serve the penalty still due to a revised section of the regulations stating: "at the driver’s next Sprint or Race in which the driver participates in the subsequent twelve (12) month period."

But despite taking a year out from F1, an FIA spokesperson confirmed ahead of Bottas' Cadillac debut: "Currently the penalty will stand, as there is no mechanism to retroactively amend the penalty that was applied under the regulations in force at the time."

"The change of regulation [for 2026] is intended to avoid similar anomalous situations in future."

As a result, Bottas' first race with Cadillac will see him serve a five-place grid penalty at the 2026 Australian GP, which will be added on top of his first qualifying position of the season.

Aston Martin already planning Australian GP DNFs

Where to even begin with Aston Martin? There had been quite a buzz around the first Aston Martin F1 car designed by Newey following his Red Bull exit, but so far, their 2026 project has been plagued by misfortune.

Newey admitted the Silverstone-based squad had run out of time to paint their car before January's Barcelona shakedown, hence why they turned up to the event late with a black edition of the AMR26.

Come February, Stroll claimed his new car was 'four seconds' slower than the top teams, with team-mate Fernando Alonso not appearing thrilled at the state of his 2026 challenger during pre-season testing either.

But the problems went from bad to worse when Aston Martins works partner Honda identified a battery-related issue with their new power unit, limiting the team's final day of running in Bahrain, admitting that they were also suffering from a shortage of parts.

Now, withy just days until the first round of their 2026 campaign, reports from Italy have claimed Aston Martin are planning an early retirement at the Australian Grand Prix.

A grim report in Italian motorsport media suggested the team were struggling to even scrape together the parts to bring to the track for this weekend's race, and while it stated that they are hoping to do enough to get themselves to the line for Sunday's grand prix, it also mentioned the caveat that they will likely only complete a few laps before retiring both of their cars to avoid any further PU issues.

GPFans contacted Aston Martin for comment on the matter, but if you see a double DNF for Stroll and Alonso this weekend, now you know why.

When does the 2026 F1 season start?

All 11 teams will be back in action when the 2026 season starts in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.

The first race of the year takes place on Sunday, March 8, at 3pm local time (AEDT), 4am GMT, and 11pm ET.

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