Valtteri Bottas is unlikely to be in F1 next season, but the Finnish superstar is already taking on new challenges – and that now includes triathlon.
Bottas has been very active on the cycling scene in recent years as a regular participant in top gravel events, often alongside partner and pro cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
And now the 35-year-old former Williams, Mercedes and now Sauber star is clearly getting into swim/bike/run in a big way, as proved by his latest high-profile challenge.
Bottas managed to complete the full 140.6-mile Ironman distance this week without leaving his own home – nice of course if you have the facilities to do that!
Bottas toes the line
You can watch the whole thing on Valtteri’s Twitter page (or at least the edited highlights), but safe to say he was as flamboyant as ever as he leapt into his villa’s backyard pool to kick off the day. After he’d enjoyed some black coffee and snacks for breakfast.
Once the 2.4-mile swim was complete, Bottas jumped out and headed indoors to take on the 112-mile bike leg on his Peloton and at this stage he appeared to be feeling pretty strong. A few hours later [including a brief pitstop for a rice lunch], and all he had left was the small matter of a 26.2-mile marathon run. So on to the treadmill he went.
As with all triathletes, the danger of an epic blow-up on the run was always present for Bottas – and he clearly started to feel the pain the deeper in he went. He said, quite simply, “it hurts”.
Bottas though is clearly in incredible shape – F1 drivers have to be – and he pushed on through to complete the epic test of endurance. Thanks partly to some phone support from triathlon legend Jan Frodeno – not a bad source of tips to be fair. The final time for the F1 star, per his socials, 10 hours and 57 minutes.
Will we see Valtteri doing an actual Ironman race at some stage in the near future? It would seem a good bet as he may well have a little more time on his hands in 2025 with Sauber (soon to become Audi in 2026) deciding to sign Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto to fill their seats on the grid.
Triathlon stars respond
Not surprisingly, a fair few triathlon stars were impressed by what Bottas achieved, with US ace Ben Kanute commenting: “The mustache definitely got him through. I’d say this is the hardest way to get an Ironman done 😮🔥”
Another US star – Paris 2024 Olympian Taylor Spivey – was another interested viewer, commenting: “This is very impressive/psychotic”.
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