Bottas Reveals How He Got Idea That Led To Selling 30,000 Naked Calendars

Sunday, 31 December 2023 at 15:00

Valtteri Bottas recently shared how he got the idea to sell a naked calendar for charity that would eventually sell out 30,000 copies.

Alfa Romeo/Sauber F1 driver Valtteri Bottas made a bold move in 2023 and announced he would be selling naked calendars throughout the whole of November.

The goal was to raise money in the spirit of "Movember," which would then be donated to prostate cancer research and other issues highlighted by the Movember movement. Asked how this idea came to life, Bottas told Express:

"It was actually... We were already joking, it was kind of last year, you know, when I posted that one photo in the river, that ‘What if you do a calendar or something?’ It was first just for laughs."

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Bottas is involved in multiple other ventures outside of F1, including an Ice Hockey Team in Finland, a Coffee Roastery, and a new Gin Brand. However, neither of these includes naked photos.

"But then actually the idea came just together actually. Me, Paul Ripke and my girlfriend, we thought ‘Hey, November is coming… Movember… Christmas is coming… Let’s do something.’ And then we just spent a couple of days together in Aspen and it was so much fun making, as you can imagine."

The Finn shared he wouldn't do the calendar photoshoot if it weren't for the good cause. Approximately $5 of sale from each calendar was donated to charity, and in the end, the "Bottass" calendar raised around $150,000. The 34-year-old added:

"But the main was that if we make it, it needs to be for charity. I wouldn’t want to post all of myself just for fun, you know. So it needs to be for something good. And now actually we’re all sold out - we sold 30,000 calendars and it’s been incredible, so it means that [we’ve raised] around 150,000 for charity. So yeah it’s been good fun."