F1 | Spanish GP | Bottas praises the power of social media after prints of his backside raises €50000
Valtteri Bottas has delved into how a print of his backside in Colorado that went viral overnight raised €50,000 for charity. The Finn also revealed that he still hasn’t received his lost luggage on his way back to Europe.
Valtteri Bottas has discussed how a print of him frolicking naked in a lake in Aspen raised €50,000 for charity.
In the week that followed the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, Bottas and partner Tiffany Cromwell stayed in the US, spending time with renowned photographer Paul Ripke who had previously worked with the Finn at Mercedes.
During this visit, a shot of Bottas’s lying down naked in a lake in Aspen, Colorado, appeared on the social media platform Instagram, with the post earning Bottas over 400,000 likes.
The notoriety of the picture has taken on another life since then, with 5,000 people buying a print of Bottas’s behind, which raised €50,000 for charity.
Although he hasn’t seen the prints in person, Bottas praised the power of social media when he visited the media pen after Qualifying, where MotorLAT was in attendance.
“It’s weird I still haven’t signed any; maybe in an autograph session, I think tomorrow maybe I will see one I have only seen photos of taking pictures of them having it in their living room or their kitchen, (or) bedroom it’s pretty cool. What is incredible (is) that, like the power of social media, we gathered 50,000 euros for charity in 24 hours with a picture of someone’s bum; it’s crazy; I don’t quite get it, but we made good.”
“Tiffany took the photo, then we were looking at the photos, and then Paul edited it but then the next day we decided should we print some and do something for charity and we decided to it do it, and it went boom. It was a one-off thing, and we decided that it is 24 hours and never again, so the ones who got the print are very lucky.”
However, Bottas’s trip to America wasn’t without incident, as his return to Europe was heavily delayed after his first flight was cancelled, with his second flight being rerouted because of bad weather forcing him to change airports. Unfortunately, the airport change caused him to lose three bags that he still hasn’t received.
“Because I stayed in the US for a long time, I was supposed to be back in Europe on Tuesday morning, but I ended up flying Wednesday morning. First flight (got) cancelled second flight was rerouted because of a storm, and then at night, there was no more flights to Europe. I had to change airports I lost my three bags I still don’t have them, so yeah, it was a bit of a mess, but I am here, and I am good.”
