FIA confirm 50-place grid penalty for under-pressure F1 star at Mexican Grand Prix

The FIA have confirmed a huge 50-place grid penalty for Cadillac star Valtteri Bottas ahead of Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.

With the season in its final quarter, several drivers have already exceeded a number of their allocated power unit components and taken penalties for doing so, with Bottas the latest to be punished.

A number of new components were fitted to his Ferrari power unit ahead of FP1 in Mexico City on Friday, with the FIA confirming that he had now taken a fifth internal combustion engine (ICE) and turbocharger (TC), as well as a fourth energy store (ES), control electronics unit (PU-CE) and MGU-K.

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Valtteri Bottas hit with huge grid drop at Mexican GP

Any time that a driver goes beyond the FIA allowance in the table above for any component, they will be hit with a grid penalty for the first event where the element is used.

The first time that the allocation of any of the elements is exceeded, a 10-place grid penalty will be applied, with the second time this happens then being a five-place grid drop.

If multiple components are exceeded at the same event, the penalty is applied cumulatively, as in Bottas' case above.

Given that Bottas has exceeded each of the changed components for the first time this year, he has received a 10-place penalty for each under Article B8.2.2 of the FIA F1 Regulations, resulting in a total 50-place grid drop for Sunday's race.

Of course, Cadillac have been the worst team on the grid so far this season, so how many places he will actually 'drop' will be far fewer, if any.

Perhaps more importantly, the penalty comes at a time when Bottas finds himself under pressure to keep hold of his seat for next year and needing to impress.

His team-mate Sergio Perez signed a new long-term contract at Cadillac ahead of his home race this weekend, but last time out in Austin, team principal Marcin Budkowski refused to confirm that Bottas was contracted for 2027.

With American driver Colton Herta now only one Super License point away from being eligible for a full-time F1 drive, the speculation is not going away any time soon.

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Written by

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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