Formula 1 star shuns private jet and casually cycles to the Grand Prix
Not everyone splashes out on a private plane.
When the Formula 1 drivers fulfil their first media commitments in Singapore on Thursday, one man among them will have had a very different build-up to the race weekend from the rest of the grid. While almost all his colleagues make the trip from Malaysia in the leather seat of a private jet, Valtteri Bottas has deliberately decided to give the aircraft steps a miss this time.
The 37-year-old Finn is making his way to the next Grand Prix in a manner virtually unheard of in modern Formula 1, taking his social media followers along day by day on a journey that requires him to cover hundreds of kilometres with a firm deadline looming.
From Malaysia to Singapore on gravel roads
Shortly after the finish of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which had been moved to Malaysia because of the unstable security situation in the Middle East, Bottas got on his bike to cover the more than 350 kilometres to Singapore under his own steam. His race had ended early anyway: the Cadillac driver crashed out of a chaotic contest, leaving him free to get straight on with his alternative travel plans.
He is not doing it alone, with his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell riding the entire route alongside him. The Australian is a professional cyclist who has also represented her country at the Olympic Games and previously won a national gravel title. The pair are deliberately avoiding the motorway in favour of dirt roads and gravel tracks, making the journey considerably tougher than the distance on paper might suggest. On Monday, the second day of the trip, they covered 161.91 kilometres in almost six hours.
Bottas regularly shares footage from the journey on his channels. In one post, the Finn wrote: "Taking the road less travelled (and perhaps a slightly longer one too)." In a later video showing him pedalling along a deserted road in the dark, Bottas added: "Yes, I'm cycling to Singapore. Along the less-travelled gravel roads on my new Canyon Grail CFR. See you there."
He must reach his destination by Thursday at the latest, when, like the other drivers, he is required to face the media.
Gravel World Championships will have to wait
Anyone who has followed F1 drivers' lives away from the track in recent years will hardly be surprised by this adventure, as Bottas has developed into a serious gravel cyclist since beginning his relationship with Cromwell. Last summer, he contested a qualifying race in Czechia, finishing fifth in his age category to secure a place at the Gravel World Championships. However, that event falls on exactly the same weekend as the Singapore race, forcing the Finn to give up his place.
It is not the first time he has qualified this way. In 2024, he also secured a place by finishing sixth in his age category at the Swartberg 100 in South Africa, a 170-kilometre gravel race he fitted into a free weekend between two Grands Prix. He is also co-founder and co-owner of FNLD GRVL in his home town of Lahti, and organises RADL GRVL with Cromwell in her home city of Adelaide.
Things have been considerably less successful for Bottas on track this year. The ten-time Grand Prix winner, who took all his victories in Mercedes silver, returned to a race seat with the new Cadillac team after a year as a reserve driver at Mercedes. After sixteen races, he still has no points and has failed to finish eight times. Anyone watching him toil along the dusty roads of rural Malaysia this week will, at least, see a driver who refuses to let a difficult season get him down.