From Sepang to Marina Bay: F1 driver Valtteri Bottas cycling to Singapore Grand Prix

Cadillac Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas is enroute to Singapore, but not in a private jet or car.

Instead, the 37-year-old Finnish driver is making the 350km journey between Sepang International Circuit and Singapore on a gravel race bicycle.

In an Instagram story posted at about 2am, Bottas showed himself cycling through a dirt track.

His Strava activity was also shared multiple times on social media, with the activity labelled as "Malaysia to Singapore Day 1".

And despite ending his race early after spinning into the gravel on a wet track at the Bahrain Grand Prix held at Sepang on Oct 4, he is starting his "Singapore race" early.

Data from Bottas' Strava shows that he completed 56.6km in 128 minutes, or about 28kmh.

According to SportCoaching, an Australia-based performance training outfit that provides tailored training programmes across the running, cycling, and triathlon disciplines, this is the average speed clocked by a regular trained rider.

Bottas is known to use cycling as both conditioning and enjoyment, and has co-founded gravel races in Finland.

In an interview on the Pitlane Life Lessons podcast, he opened up about his love of cycling. He said: "That’s why I like cycling, because it’s like the opposite. You, as a human, are the engine, you are the machine."

Sightings on the road

Threads users in Malaysia have been posting their encounters with the F1 driver.

User Jiaxin shared a close-up of Bottas at about 9.11pm on Sunday, when traffic outside Sepang was still heavy.

A focused Finn appeared to be looking for a safe way to get around the built-up traffic.

In the video, he is seen riding what appears to be a third-general Canyon Grail, a thoroughbred gravel race bike.

Online checks indicate that the top-tier, pro-grade carbon CFR version can cost upwards of S$11,500.

At 5.49pm on Monday, Nazmi Aiman Kamarudin posted a bike-mounted footage, showing Bottas and another rider going past him at Sungei Udang in Melaka — about 245km from Singapore.

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers at Woodlands Checkpoint will now be expecting a different kind of arrival via the motorcycle lane in the days ahead.

凯迪拉克一级方程式赛车手瓦尔特里·博塔斯正在前往新加坡的路上，但他不是乘坐私人飞机或汽车。

这位 37 岁的芬兰车手并没有选择驾车，而是骑着一辆砾石公路自行车完成了从雪邦国际赛道到新加坡的 350 公里旅程。

凌晨 2 点左右，博塔斯在 Instagram 快拍中发布了​​一段自己骑自行车经过土路的视频。

他的 Strava 活动也被多次分享到社交媒体上，活动标题为“马来西亚到新加坡第一天”。

尽管他在 10 月 4 日于雪邦举行的巴林大奖赛上，因在湿滑赛道上打滑冲出赛道而提前结束了比赛，但他的“新加坡比赛”却提前开始了。

博塔斯的 Strava 数据显示，他用 128 分钟跑完了 56.6 公里，平均时速约为 28 公里/小时。

据总部位于澳大利亚的运动训练机构 SportCoaching 称，该机构提供跑步、自行车和铁人三项等项目的定制训练计划，这是一名训练有素的骑手所达到的平均速度。

博塔斯以骑自行车作为体能训练和娱乐方式而闻名，他还在芬兰共同创办了砾石自行车赛。

在 Pitlane Life Lessons 播客的一次采访中，他敞开心扉地谈到了自己对自行车运动的热爱。他说：“这就是我喜欢自行车的原因，因为它与赛车截然相反。作为人，你就是引擎，你就是机器。”

路上的目击事件

马来西亚的 Threads 用户一直在发布他们与这位 F1 车手的偶遇经历。

用户 Jiaxin 在周日晚上 9 点 11 分左右分享了一张 Bottas 的近照，当时雪邦赛道外的交通仍然拥堵。

一位神情专注的芬兰人似乎正在寻找一条安全绕过拥堵路段的方法。

视频中，他骑着一辆看起来像是第三代 Canyon Grail，一款纯种砾石公路赛车的自行车。

网上查询显示，顶级专业级碳纤维 CFR 版本售价可能高达 11,500 新元以上。

周一下午 5 点 49 分，Nazmi Aiman Kamarudin 发布了一段自行车上的视频，视频显示 Bottas 和另一名骑手从他身边经过，地点位于马六甲的 Sungei Udang，距离新加坡约 245 公里。

接下来的几天，兀兰关卡的移民与关卡局官员将会迎来一种不同的摩托车通行方式。