Valtteri Bottas' unusual Miami F1 penalty explained

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Valtteri Bottas' unusual penalty at the Miami Grand Prix is the latest symptom of some of the teething issues F1's newest team is dealing with, but Cadillac is buoyed by the results of its first in-season upgrades.

Cadillac brought an ambitious set of updates to its home race in Miami after having started its F1 adventure with a relatively basic launch car. Those upgrades, centred around an improved front wing and a reprofiled floor, allowed it to take a bite out of its deficit to the rest of F1 2026's packed midfield and race Aston Martin on pace.

But some quality inconsistencies with the new parts, and an unusual drive-through penalty for Bottas, showed Cadillac still has a number of teething issues to get on top of as F1's newest entrant.

Sergio Perez and Bottas finished 17th and 20th respectively in Saturday's 19-lap sprint, with Perez splitting the Astons in the grand prix in 16th. Finishing 18th and last of the classified runners, Bottas lost ground with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which he explained was the result of an issue with the tactility of the buttons. Cadillac doesn't produce its own steering wheel and is awaiting an updated product from its supplier.

"I pressed the pit limiter button, but apparently not hard enough," he reported. "We're still lacking a bit of feedback on some of the buttons, so another error we're still working on. It's been a known issue, we just haven't got the new buttons yet. Hopefully in the next race. But yeah, it's one of the things that happens when you start as a new team."

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing

And while Bottas said "the upgrades worked", he feels Cadillac is still struggling with the production quality of some of its parts, which has added inconsistencies. "I think we're still struggling a bit with the quality of certain parts," the Finn said. "Not every part is the same that we put in the car, so there's a bit of a lack of consistency in there, but overall, it's getting better."