Valtteri Bottas, who has been fired from the Sauber team, has received his farewell gift from the motorsport organization FIA, a penalty of five places in the field.
Valtteri Bottas has been given a five-place grid penalty as a farewell gift after crashing what is likely to be his final Formula 1 lap.
The penalty will come into effect if Bottas ever manages to drive a Formula 1 race again.
The five-place penalty is part of the rules of the sport. But there is no way around it. If the Finn competes in a Formula 1 race again, he will have to start five places behind his qualification.
The penalty type is a significant part of Formula 1, where all teams and drivers are subject to a strict set of rules. Violations can result in various consequences such as grid penalties, time penalties or even exclusion from the race, as happened to Kevin Magnussen .
In this case, however, it is remarkable that the penalty has been given, considering that the 35-year-old Bottas has no seat at all next year.
Valtteri Bottas, who has been part of Formula 1 since 2012. He started at Williams. First as a reserve then with a permanent seat. Because he was brought in as Nico Rosberg's replacement at Mercedes.
The Finn, however, was eliminated when the next Williams driver in the form of George Russell made his mark. Bottas ended the 2024 season as the worst driver in many ways. He is the only one of the regular drivers who did not manage to score at least one point during the season. And now it all ends with a placement penalty.
