In the high-stakes world of Formula 1, a pitlane speeding penalty is almost always chalked up to driver error—a momentary lapse in concentration under pressure. But Valtteri Bottas' drive-through penalty at the Miami Grand Prix has revealed a far more unusual culprit: his own steering wheel.
The FIA stewards clocked Bottas at 89.5 km/h in the pit lane, a full 9.5 km/h over the strict 80 km/h limit. With the FIA enforcing the rules to the letter, it was an open-and-shut case. However, the Finn has now explained that the real issue lies with the tactility of the buttons on his Cadillac steering wheel—a component the team is actively working to update.
"I pressed the speed limiter button in the pitlane, but apparently not hard enough," Bottas revealed. "We still lack sensitivity and feedback on certain buttons, so that's another area we're working on." When asked how difficult the fix would be, the experienced driver remained pragmatic: "It's a known problem and one that Checo and I have already pointed out. They're too hard to press. We just don't have the new buttons yet. So, hopefully that will be the case from the next race onwards. That's one of the things that happens when you're starting out as a new team."
The button issue wasn't the only hardware inconsistency Bottas flagged. While he acknowledged that "the upgrades worked," he believes Cadillac is still grappling with production quality issues across some components, introducing inconsistencies into the package. Miami saw nine separate upgrade items for Cadillac, spanning the front wing endplate, front wing flap, floor body, diffuser, and rear suspension among others. Despite these growing pains, the car-level progress is real.
The upgrades, centered around an improved front wing and a reprofiled floor, allowed Cadillac to take a significant bite out of its deficit to the midfield and even race Aston Martin on pace. Sergio Perez finished 16th and Bottas 18th, last of the classified runners, but both cars crossed the line—marking the third consecutive race where that's happened. For an entirely new team, that's an impressive feat of reliability.
"This is not frustration, it's what I expected," Bottas added. "I knew it would be a difficult journey, but we're making progress step by step." As Cadillac continues to refine its hardware and software, fans can expect the team to keep pushing forward—one button press at a time.