Valtteri Bottas is adamant he wants to be in Formula 1 “for quite a long time” despite planning for life beyond the sport as he builds up a portfolio of business interests.
Over the years, Bottas has steadily invested in a range of products, notably Kahiwa Coffee Roastery in his native Finland, Oath Gin, and most recently in December, his own brand of wine, IHANA.
Bottas is also involved in property, and given his love of cycling, is co-founder and co-owner of the RDL GRVL events that this year takes place in McLaren Vale, South Australia, on January 19.
In an interview with Speedcafe, asked if his range of businesses were born along similar lines as Ricciardo, he replied: “Yes and no.
“Yes, because I’m always thinking ahead, trying to plan ahead. But Formula 1 is still absolutely the number one thing for me, and I still want to be here for quite a long time.
“All these things in which I’ve become involved have been done mainly through passion. Anything I’ve joined or started is just purely passion. They are things that I like to do, things that give me energy rather than waste my energy.
“And with all the things that I do, I can kind of control how much time they take for me, and that’s with all things, like coffee, gin, or GRVL. People are working with us, so I can really manage the load.
“On a race weekend, I don’t want to deal with that kind of stuff, I just leave it behind, and when I recover, then I can jump on a call and start planning certain things. It’s nice, I can control all these things quite nicely.”
Bottas maintains that given the intensity of a racing season, that this year incorporates a record-breaking 24 grands prix, the distractions are necessary, allowing him to completely switch off.
“It’s a nice way to disconnect your mind from F1, which otherwise would be 24/7, and if it’s 24/7 then it’s not sustainable,” he said.
“So it’s nice to have different things to do, and then after a week off and doing all these things, I then go back to racing and I really want to be there. I want to get on track and so, for me, it works.”
After his brief visit to last year’s Adelaide Motorsport Festival, in which he drove the Holden VF Commodore of Jono Webb and Will Davison that won the 2016 Bathurst 1000, the 34-year-old was made an ambassador of the event.
This year, Bottas will be playing more of an integral role at the March 15-17 outing that will serve as part of the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix on March 22-24.
“Last year was the first time I went there, and it was a pretty quick visit, only for a few hours, and I only drove one car,” said Bottas.
“But now with a bit more planning, I should get to drive a few more cars and really enjoy the event, so that should be nice.”
Although “different” from the Goodwood Festival of Speed which Bottas has attended in the past, he claims the Adelaide Motorsport Festival is “a similar concept”.
On the Adelaide event, he added: “There were lots of motorsport fans, I saw some good mullets, so it’s a good vibe.
“Last year was a bit unlucky with the weather. It rained a bit and wasn’t that beautiful a day, but I’m sure it’s going to be a great event this year.”
