F1 star banned from releasing NUDE calendar as team chief says X-rated pictures are ‘not on’
FORMULA ONE star Valtteri Bottas is set to be banned from releasing nude photos.
The 35-year-old has re-joined Mercedes ahead of the new season as a reserve driver.
Bottas is no stranger to stripping off, having shown off his bum in ‘cracking’ Netflix documentary Drive to Survive and he has posted snaps of himself swimming naked in a river online.
The Finnish icon also released a nude calendar last year, hilariously titling it “Botass 2024”.
All cash made was donated to Prostate Cancer Research and he reportedly raised £121,000 for the good cause.
But Bottas now needs to keep his kit on as Mercedes chief Toto Wolff suggested it is time for him to reign it in.
He told R365: “We are Mercedes, so maybe the nude calendar is not on anymore.
“So we have said that, but we need to keep him authentic.”
Wolff added with a smile: “If he wants to keep the ugly mullet, then he should.”
Bottas’ Mercedes return is a homecoming for the veteran, who twice came second in the standings to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2019 and 2020.
He has spent the last three seasons with Alfa Romeo and Sauber respectively, going from wearing nothing to scoring nothing across the whole of last term.
George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli are on the grid for Mercedes.
The Italian is set to debut at the Australian Grand Prix and become the third-youngest driver in Formula One history at 18 years and 203 days old
F1 2025 grid
Here are the confirmed driver line ups for the F1 2025 season:
Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes: George Russell and Kimi Antonelli
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan
RB: Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar
Haas: Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon