Valtteri Bottas couldn’t resist taking to the track this weekend even with the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as the Finnish star showed his sporting prowess.
Outside of his career in motorsport, Bottas has developed a keen interest in cycling due to his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell’s career as a professional road and gravel cyclist.
With Bottas suddenly having a free weekend after Formula 1 dropped Imola from the schedule on Wednesday, the Finn chose to enjoy a two-wheeled event in the UK.
Posting on Instagram, the Alfa Romeo driver wrote “race day” alongside a photo of him cycling in Scotland with Cromwell.
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The event he attended was round seven of the UCI Gravel World Series, requiring Bottas to put on an impressive displace of fitness, keeping up with others on the course.
Scotland’s Gatehouse of Fleet hosted the round, which sees competitors take on a 110-kilometre course, covering a series of tough gravel roads.
To add to the tough terrain, the race also adds in roughly 2,000 metres of climbing in the Galloway Forest.
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While Bottas has previously enjoyed a successful stint in Formula 1, securing 10 race wins and 67 podiums, mostly secured during his stint at Mercedes, he is currently in a more challenging period of his career.
Since moving to Alfa Romeo in 2022, Bottas has only managed a season best performance of P5 last year at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
However, this year, Bottas is struggling for points, only managing P8 in Bahrain, followed by a string of pointless finishes in the other four rounds of the season.