Valtteri Bottas on his love of cycling, his F1 future and whether he could move to Australia

Valtteri Bottas’ love of cycling is well known but he is set to take this up a notch in 2024. Plus the latest on his F1 future, his love of Australia and the gravel racing event he is running in SA.

If all goes well for Valtteri Bottas this year then there will be two world championships he fights for.

The first, and still “100 per cent the main job”, is Formula 1 with the two-time runner up in the drivers’ championship optimistic about what is in store for 2024 for the team now called Stake F1.

The second could be one of the more ambitious things the Finnish superstar has tried.

While he is one of the quickest men in the planet on four wheels, Bottas’ love of all things on two wheels is well known.

Bottas along with his partner, professional cyclist for Canyon-SRAM Tiffany Cromwell, are counting down the days until the first ever RADL GRVL event in Adelaide as part of the Tour Down Under next week – following previous events in America and his home of Finland, SBT GRVL and FNLD GRVL respectively.

It, and his summer in Australia, are also forming a big part of Bottas’ second and ambitious goal for 2024.

Bottas is aiming to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium in early October.

Bottas on the gravel at Kangaroo Island. Picture: @valtteribottas

While he is 34, Bottas can compete in the 35-39 age group at the championships.

But that doesn’t mean qualifying for the event is going to be any easier for him as the popularity of gravel racing around the globe continues to soar.

“Yeah I’ve set it as a goal for this year because I have a weekend off from my main job during the gravel worlds,” he told this masthead.

“But obviously my calendar will be super busy so training will be compromised compared to a real cyclist and also how many free weekends I have to try and qualify are limited.

“There are some races that I will have an opportunity to give it a go to qualify for my age group so we will see but it is nice to other goals alongside F1 racing and I feel it is quite refreshing for me.

“That is still 100 per cent the main job and I still have lots of goals in F1 and want to be around for some time.”

To get to Belgium Bottas will likely have to qualify through the UCI Gravel World Series, where at each event the top 25 per cent of riders in each age category who finish the race qualify for the world championship race.

But because he needs to hurtle around the track at speeds of around 300km/h every second weekend when the F1 season begins, he isn’t going to get all that many opportunities to find races on two wheels to qualify in.

So how do his chances look?

When he can Bottas goes out on the bike most days with Cromwell, with the two racking up the kilometres around her home of Adelaide and its surrounds.

Tiffany Cromwell and Valtteri Bottas.

Cromwell is a believer in his chances.

“Yeah absolutely (he can do it) it is going to be challenging because he has limited races he can choose and the races are getting more and more competitive,” she said.

“But he was pretty close before with some of the races he did and now he is in the age group above which I think will help because I think the 19-34 is probably the most competitive.

“But I think he can do it and we got a taste of what the worlds will look like at the European championships and it suits his strengths.

“There are a few races that we have pencilled in and I’m sure he can make it, when he has the time he knows how to suffer and he is strong on the bike.”

‘IT’S NOT A NEW SITUATION FOR ME’

Bottas is extremely determined for a fast start to the 2024 F1 season.

Last year was a difficult year for Bottas and his team, in its former guise as Alfa Romeo as it finished 2023 with just 16 points and a ninth-place finish in constructors’ championship.

Bottas himself finished 15th in the drivers championship with 10 points.

Bottas said 2023 was a tough year. Picture: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

But with a new name and new personnel in key positions, such as James Key as technical director, hope springs eternal for the 2024 campaign.

Key has said this year’s car would be “completely new” as Stake F1 looks to redeem itself.

Bottas is excited about the prospect.

“From what I have seen and heard I am really looking forward to it, I think things are looking positive,” he said.

“There are quite a few new signings in the team on the technical side, there has been a bit of reshaping happening since last year and the whole concept of the car is quite different so I think we honestly have a decent and realistic chance to make a good step forward.

“Last year was tough to be honest, we definitely didn’t get to the goals that we wanted and that is why everyone knows we all have to step up.

“It is all about marginal gains and if you don’t perform it’s on the whole team, so definitely hoping for a better year than the year before, which was the goal last year but it didn’t happen.

“But we need to be consistent in the points and in the good points, I would say that is a good target.”

Getting in the “good points” early on in the season would be good for Bottas.

While it was previously thought he had a contract running until the end of 2025, it actually expires at the completion of the 2024 season.

Driver seats in F1 can be a ruthless game of musical chairs, but Bottas is banking on his experience.

“Of course I would like to have a good start to the year because I would ideally have things fixed for the future earlier rather than later in the season because it can always become a bit of a distraction,” he said.

“But it is not really a new situation for me so I think it should be good to try and do my best and eventually there will be a time to talk to the team and we will see.”

And while cycling, and gravel riding in particular, has a big piece of his heart at the moment – Bottas isn’t preparing to hang up his helmet anytime soon.

“I think in the sport there is obviously many things that impact (how long he wants to go on) like which team you are on, how much you are enjoying it, how are the results, there are many things,” he said.

“But for me ideally still many years, there are things I still have not done so I’m going to be 35 this year and if you look at Fernando (Alonso) I have plenty of time.”

BUDGY SMUGGLERS ON THE BIKE?

If you are around Adelaide on Thursday morning you might see Bottas riding his bike just wearing budgy smugglers.

A lover of the iconic Australian swimming outfit, Bottas and Cromwell have incorporated it into the first ever RADL GRVL.

To kick off the first ever RADL GRVL on Thursday there will be a ‘Budgy Smuggler shake-out ride’ from the Tour Down Under village for an hour and a half.

“That will be interesting seeing how people will react to that,” Bottas said.

Men won’t just have the chance, with women donning the one-piece on the bike.

“People’s Choice have done the undies run so I think it can work in Australia,” Cromwell said.

Friday will be the main day of racing from Oliver and Press in McLaren Vale, with an 108km route and a 72km one around the gravel roads on the iconic wine region with a prize purse of $10,000 up for grabs.

Cromwell and Bottas will bring their RADL GRVL race to SA from Thursday. Picture: Supplied

“I finally managed to ride most of the course and it is looking amazing so I think people are really going to love the course,” Bottas said.

And then on Saturday there will be a “HLL CLMB” just outside of Willunga before a watch party of the finish of the fifth stage of the men’s Tour Down Under up Willunga Hill.

“Costumes are more than welcome so we will be riding out there to Willunga Hill and will be cheering on the riders, that should be quite a scene as well,” Bottas said.

Bottas and Cromwell were approached by the TDU to run a gravel event in conjunction to Australia’s greatest stage race.

As a South Australian, Cromwell said it was special.

“Of course there are some unknowns and pitching the event was a little bit trickier to participants because maybe at first it did look like we were running a pro-event but we wanted to say no it is for everybody, we are starting small but we are growing it in future years,” she said.

“At least in the early years that’s the plan (to have it around the TDU), they actually approached us to have a gravel style event so of course it is a little bit different to our other stand-alone gravel races.

“But we kind of like that idea, Adelaide is my home town and we always thought if we could be a part of the TDU it would be amazing because it is such an amazing 10 days in Adelaide and so many people travel down here.

“Obviously it is a new event and you can kind of piggyback off the fans coming down but in future years we do want it to be sort of associated but people are travelling to Adelaide for the gravel event not the TDU as part of their week.”

Having started her professional career 14-years ago on the road, a change to gravel in 2019 has reinvigorated a large part of competing for Cromwell – who finishes the women’s TDU on Sunday.

“Initially for me it was just an idea for the team for me to do some gravel racing as an outlet from the road racing and give me some more challenges,” she said.

“But that was when gravel was still in the growing stages and I still enjoyed it but from my side too seeing gravel growing especially at the top end – in the last three years it has gone from one level to the next and it has given me new challenges being able to try and win bike races again and kind of work out all those pieces.”

Since they started dating in 2020, Bottas has become a vocal proponent of gravel racing.

“I just fell in love with the whole concept,” he said.

“For me the main thing is that anyone can attend, you can line up next to the pros but you might bed two hours slower on the course.

“You can do it for a result, you can do it to just complete the distance and it’s just the whole vibe in gravel events.

“It is quite a bit more relaxed to what I have seen of road racing, it is quite a great community event and it is not just about the ride only it is also about what is happening around it and all the fun things that people are doing together.

“For fitness it is great and for F1 you need great endurance, the season is long, the races can be quiet physical dependent on conditions and mentally it is a great way to escape the hectic F1 world.

“Like today when I went out I didn’t see a single car the whole gravel ride I did and it was just a really refreshing way to escape sometimes.”

He has also become a big proponent for Australia and South Australia with Bottas and Cromwell visiting some of the state’s most iconic tourist destinations during their time in the country.

With his mullet and ‘VB’ nickname, which is a marketers dream for the beer company, Bottas is loved by Australians.

Valtteri Bottas is enjoying his time living in the Adelaide Hills with his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell. At the at the Casa Freschi vineyard. Picture: Instagram/Casa Freschi

The love is mutual and one that he makes sure to express when he is back in Europe.

“The first time I came here was because of Tiffany to meet her family but it is a great place, especially this time of the year with the sporting events happening and the weather,” he said.

“Also the timing is perfect for my off-season and it is a great place to also escape because the time difference is also pretty much opposite to Europe so it works well that nobody is bothering me during the day so I can do my stuff and it is a great place to train and great wine actually, the best wine in the world I would say is in South Australia.

“All the time (he talks up SA back in Europe), I always get questions and comments about how it is and I have actually convinced quite a few people from Europe to come and visit so they have been around and seen the wineries and the wildlife.

“I’m always trying my best to say good things and everyone should definitely visit and hopefully we can encourage more and more people to come here and help the tourism.”

So given his love of Australia could we see Bottas more in Australia and South Australia when the time does come that he leaves F1?

“Never say never, it is always on the cards,” he said.

“We have a pretty open plan for the future so let’s see.”