Valtteri Bottas Rides Past a King Cobra as Cadillac Future Stays Unclear
Valtteri Bottas has spent the 2026 season racing for Cadillac. Away from the circuit he has a reputation for the unexpected, and his long-term place
Valtteri Bottas has spent the 2026 season racing for Cadillac. Away from the circuit he has a reputation for the unexpected, and his long-term place at the team is still unclear.
Two weeks before his latest adventure, the Finn cycled through the Malaysian jungle between the Malaysian and Singapore races. Along the way he met pythons, lizards and a king cobra. The trip covered about 350 kilometers over three days.
An outback pub crawl for his birthday
For his 37th birthday, his partner Tiffany Cromwell, a recently retired professional cyclist, planned a bar crawl with a twist. He and Cromwell hopped between pubs by plane across the Australian outback. It fitted into the gap between the Singapore and Austin, Texas, races in October.
"We called it the outback pub crawl," Bottas said. "There are a few pretty cool remote places there. It's wild how big the country is."
The salt lakes made a strong impression. "When you see the salt lakes and stuff, it's pretty impressive," he said.
A career of detours
The birthday trip is one entry in a long list. Bottas has qualified for cycling's Gravel World Championships and invested in an ice hockey team in his native Finland. He has also set up a gin company and bought a vineyard retreat in Australia.
He once released a nude calendar that raised more than $150,000 for charity.
Cadillac, on and off the clock
Bottas returned to the grid with Cadillac after a spell away. He drives alongside Sergio Perez, and his first run with the team came at the Barcelona shakedown, a pre-season test of the new car. Whether he stays beyond this season has not been settled.
The on-track picture at the Brazilian Grand Prix was tough. In the first practice results at Interlagos, Bottas was 21st of 22 cars, 2.100 seconds behind Max Verstappen's Red Bull. Perez was 20th, 1.951 seconds off the pace.
The Brazilian Grand Prix weekend continues at Interlagos, with Verstappen's 1 minute 11.622 seconds the mark to beat in that opening session.
