Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas has chosen one of the most unusual ways imaginable to travel between consecutive race weekends, swapping his Cadillac F1 car for a bicycle and riding roughly 350 kilometres from Malaysia towards Singapore. The Finnish driver began the multi-day journey after racing at Sepang and is expected to reach Singapore ahead of his media commitments for the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix. The Marina Bay weekend takes place from October 9-11 and will also feature the final F1 Sprint of the season, giving fans competitive action on all three days.
Most Formula 1 drivers travelling between Grand Prix weekends board a plane, arrive at the next destination and begin preparations for the next race.
Valtteri Bottas decided to do something completely different.
The 37-year-old Cadillac Formula 1 driver has embarked on a bicycle journey from the Sepang region of Malaysia towards Singapore ahead of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix.
The journey is approximately 350 kilometres, according to Reuters and information provided by Cadillac, and is expected to take around three days.
It is an extraordinary transition even by Bottas’s standards.
One weekend he is driving a Formula 1 car at more than 300 km/h.
A few days later, he is covering hundreds of kilometres using nothing but two wheels and his own legs.
From Sepang to Singapore — on a bicycle
Bottas began the journey after the Formula 1 event at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit.
The race at Sepang was officially classified as the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite being staged in Malaysia after changes to the 2026 calendar brought Formula 1 back to Sepang.
Rather than taking the considerably easier route to the next race, Bottas decided to ride south through Malaysia.
Cadillac told Reuters that the approximately 350km journey was expected to take him three days.
That timetable is important because Bottas still needs to reach Singapore in time for the normal Formula 1 responsibilities that begin before cars even go onto the circuit.
Drivers have media duties on Thursday, before track action begins on Friday.
Bottas began riding almost immediately after the race weekend
Publicly recorded activity from the trip showed Bottas beginning his journey from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport area.
His first recorded stage covered approximately 35.2 miles — around 56.6 kilometres — towards Port Dickson.
From there, the route continues south through Malaysia towards Singapore.
Bottas has also shared parts of the journey through social media.
Reuters reported that one video showed the Finn cycling at night with a light illuminating the road ahead of him.
It is certainly not the normal image associated with an F1 driver’s journey between races.
Instead of airports, team transport and hotels, Bottas has turned the relatively short geographical distance between Sepang and Singapore into an endurance challenge.
Cycling is much more than an occasional hobby for Bottas
For people who have followed Bottas outside Formula 1, the decision is less surprising.
The Finnish driver has developed a serious passion for cycling and particularly gravel riding.
Bottas regularly trains on bicycles and has competed in cycling events outside his Formula 1 commitments.
His partner, Australian professional cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, is also deeply involved in the sport.
Before Bottas began the Singapore journey, Cromwell had shared footage of the pair training together around Malaysia, including rides through the Sepang region and palm-oil plantation areas.
Bottas has therefore effectively combined two parts of his sporting life.
He completed one Formula 1 weekend in Malaysia and then turned the journey to the next Grand Prix into a major cycling session.
Roughly 350 kilometres between two Formula 1 weekends
The scale of the challenge becomes clearer when the distance is considered.
Cadillac’s estimate places the ride at approximately:
350 kilometres
or around:
217 miles
spread across several days.
That would already represent a significant endurance ride for an experienced cyclist.
Bottas, however, is doing it between two Formula 1 race weekends.
That means the physical effort cannot interfere with his preparation for Singapore.
And Singapore is hardly the ideal race at which to arrive physically exhausted.
Singapore is one of Formula 1’s toughest physical races
The Singapore Grand Prix has long been regarded as one of the most physically demanding events on the Formula 1 calendar.
The race takes place at night, but Singapore’s tropical conditions mean drivers still have to deal with significant heat and humidity.
Inside an F1 cockpit, drivers already experience extreme temperatures while wearing fire-resistant race suits, helmets and other safety equipment.
They are simultaneously dealing with braking forces, acceleration, steering loads and repeated high-speed direction changes.
Singapore adds another problem: duration.
Street circuits can produce Safety Cars and interruptions, while the combination of relatively low average speeds and a long lap means the Singapore Grand Prix can become one of the longest races of the season.
That makes Bottas’s decision to precede the weekend with a multi-day cycling journey particularly remarkable.
Singapore is the final Sprint weekend of 2026
This year’s Singapore Grand Prix is even more intense because Formula 1 is using the Sprint format.
Formula 1 has confirmed that Singapore will host the final Sprint of the 2026 season.
That dramatically changes the weekend.
During a traditional Formula 1 weekend, drivers normally receive three practice sessions before qualifying.
In Singapore this year, they get only one.
Friday contains:
Free Practice 1
followed by:
Sprint Qualifying
Saturday then contains:
Sprint
followed by:
Grand Prix Qualifying
And Sunday concludes with:
Singapore Grand Prix
That means teams have very little time to perfect their cars.
2026 Singapore Grand Prix — Complete F1 Schedule
The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix takes place from Friday, October 9 to Sunday, October 11, 2026, at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Singapore is 2 hours and 30 minutes ahead of India, so the sessions remain conveniently timed for Indian Formula 1 fans.
Friday, October 9
Free Practice 1
Singapore: 4:30 PM
India (IST): 2:00 PM
Duration: 60 minutes
This is the only conventional practice session of the entire weekend.
Teams therefore have just one hour to understand tyre behaviour, balance, ride height, temperatures and car setup before competitive sessions begin.
Sprint Qualifying
Singapore: 8:30 PM
India (IST): 6:00 PM
Sprint Qualifying determines the starting grid for Saturday’s Sprint.
Formula 1’s official timetable schedules the session from 8:30 PM to approximately 9:14 PM Singapore time.
Saturday, October 10
F1 Sprint
Singapore: 5:00 PM
India (IST): 2:30 PM
The Sprint is scheduled for 21 laps or a maximum of 60 minutes.
Unlike a practice session, this is a competitive race and offers championship points.
That means Saturday afternoon immediately becomes important for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
Grand Prix Qualifying
Singapore: 9:00 PM
India (IST): 6:30 PM
The normal Q1-Q2-Q3 qualifying session will determine the grid for Sunday’s main Grand Prix.
At Marina Bay, qualifying can be particularly important because overtaking on a narrow street circuit is considerably more difficult than at many permanent tracks.
Drivers will therefore be pushing extremely close to the barriers under the lights.
Sunday, October 11
Drivers’ Parade
Singapore: 6:00 PM
India (IST): 3:30 PM
The drivers will complete their traditional pre-race parade before preparing for the Grand Prix.
Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore: 8:00 PM**
India (IST): 5:30 PM
This is the main event.
The 2026 Singapore Grand Prix will run for:
62 laps
around the:
4.927-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit
with the official timetable allowing up to approximately two hours for the Grand Prix.
For Indian Formula 1 fans, that means lights out at a very convenient 5:30 PM IST on Sunday, October 11.
Singapore GP 2026 timings for Indian fans at a glance
Friday, October 9
FP1 — 2:00 PM IST
Sprint Qualifying — 6:00 PM IST
Saturday, October 10
Sprint — 2:30 PM IST
Qualifying — 6:30 PM IST
Sunday, October 11
Singapore Grand Prix — 5:30 PM IST
Formula 1 notes that the official timetable remains subject to change.
Marina Bay will host Round 17 of the championship
Singapore represents Round 17 of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship and the final stop of the current triple-header.
The race arrives at an important stage of the championship.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli currently holds a commanding championship advantage over teammate George Russell, while the previous race produced a significant change in momentum.
Max Verstappen returned to victory at Sepang, while Russell suffered a retirement.
That allowed Antonelli to extend his championship lead to 84 points.
Singapore therefore becomes another potentially important step in deciding the 2026 Drivers’ Championship.
George Russell could face a major Singapore setback
There is another major storyline developing ahead of the weekend.
George Russell is expected to face a significant grid penalty after his power-unit problems at the previous race.
Reuters reports that Russell has already exhausted his allocated engines for the season.
Taking another power unit could therefore send him towards the back of the grid in Singapore.
That would be particularly damaging at Marina Bay.
A grid penalty at a circuit with limited overtaking opportunities is much more difficult to recover from than at a track with long straights and numerous passing zones.
For Russell’s already difficult championship situation, Singapore could therefore become a crucial weekend.
Cadillac faces Marina Bay for the first time
The weekend also represents another milestone for Bottas’s team.
This will be Cadillac’s first Formula 1 appearance at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Cadillac is new to Formula 1 in 2026, but its drivers are not new to Singapore.
Bottas has extensive experience around Marina Bay from his previous F1 career, including a podium finish for Mercedes in 2017.
His teammate Sergio Perez also has considerable experience at the venue.
That driver knowledge could become particularly valuable during a Sprint weekend where the team has only one practice session before competitive running begins.
From two wheels back to four
For Bottas, however, the first challenge is simply getting there.
His week started at one of Formula 1’s great traditional racing venues in Sepang.
Instead of immediately flying to Singapore, he got onto a bicycle.
Approximately 350 kilometres later, he is expected to arrive at another of the championship’s most distinctive destinations.
Then the bicycle gets put away.
The Cadillac race suit comes back on.
And Bottas goes from cycling speeds to more than 300 km/h again.
There is something appropriately unusual about the entire journey.
Formula 1 is a sport built around some of the fastest and most technologically advanced vehicles ever created.
Yet one of its most experienced drivers has chosen to travel between two Grand Prix weekends using one of the simplest machines available.
And once Bottas reaches Singapore, there will be little time to recover.
FP1 begins Friday at 4:30 PM Singapore time, Sprint Qualifying follows that evening, the Sprint takes place Saturday, and the Singapore Grand Prix begins Sunday at 8:00 PM local time — 5:30 PM in India.
After roughly 350 kilometres on a bicycle, Bottas will finally be able to trade two wheels for four.
But at Marina Bay, the physical challenge is only just beginning.
