Valtteri Bottas stripped down to the bare necessities for a good cause recently, and sales of the Finn’s nude calendar have raised $150,000 for men’s health charity Movember.
Earlier this year, Bottas traded his racing suit for a birthday suit and embarked on a unique fundraising endeavor to produce a calendar featuring candid photographs of himself in the nude.
The audacious initiative, titled ‘Bottass 2024’, showcased a series of intimate and unfiltered portraits of the ten-time Grand Prix winner, captured by renowned F1 photographer Paul Ripke.
The images, devoid of any artificial enhancements or embellishments, presented an authentic and unadorned portrayal of the Finnish racing driver.
Bottas's decision to bare all for a worthy cause resonated with fans and supporters worldwide.
The calendar quickly gained popularity and sold out its initial run of 10,000 copies. More were printed, with €5 from each sale directly benefiting the efforts of Movember and research into prostate cancer.
On Thursday, Bottas took to social media to share the project's notable success.
"Thank you so much for all the support in November," he wrote. "With the donations and with the calendars we have together raised a substantial amount for Movember - meaning WE have really helped and will affect and save many people's lives.
"Final figures to be calculated in the next days, but we are talking around $150k of funds raised!"
Bottas said the project came about following the success in 2022 of a print showing him buck naked laying in a creek in Aspen.
“Last year, when I launched that one photo in Aspen, it was quite popular,” he explained. "And we actually did raise quite a bit of funds.
“Because I do quite a bit of stuff with Ripke - he's a good friend, the photographer - and then we started to joke about the idea, 'Imagine, if there's the full calendar.'
"And then closer to November, Movember month, we started to think actually, that's something we could do, something really, really good.
"And we decided that yeah, let's do it, but for charity. It's mainly for prostate cancer research, so I think it's for a good cause."
January, February and March of BOTTASS 2024 🍑
5$ of each sale of the calendar go to prostate cancer research of @Movember !https://t.co/baxKM8f0in pic.twitter.com/oVmxcwM1u9
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) November 14, 2023
Asked about the reaction from his family and entourage, Bottas said that he initially faced his mother's skepticism about his decision to bare all until he clarified that the calendar was for a good cause.
“I did get a message from my mum," said the Sauber driver. “Like, 'What is this?' She doesn't really understand English either that well, and she saw some of the videos that I posted, and she was quite confused and protective. Like, 'Are you sure that's the path you want to go?'
"So then I explained the charity thing, and so it's fine. I've had questions, people asking like, why did you do that? Like why do you want to show your ass?
"But then when I explained the charity aspect and people kind of get it. And we had so much fun, you can imagine, making that, taking those pictures.
"We had this art gallery on Monday [in Las Vegas] and people who came there, they had no idea what was going to happen.
"And they were so confused when we started to show every print, step-by-step, they were like, 'What's happening here?' But then they kind of got the idea that, okay, it's funny and for charity. It was good fun."
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