Valtteri Bottas spent days cycling through jungles and dodging cobras just to get himself to the snake pit that is the Formula One paddock. The Cadillac racer snubbed the short flight from Sepang to Singapore for a 260-mile bike ride.
That meant more dirt tracks than smooth tarmac on a saddle that "became like a cheese grinder" in the heat and humidity. But Bottas' blistered backside won't hurt his performance this weekend, he insisted, as he recalled the sketchiest parts of his journey.
Snakes, dogs and cows on the trail
"I saw some snakes, which I was a little bit worried about, but actually they were pretty chill. I saw one cobra, one python just crossing the path in front of me. I saw some of those big lizards that you also see here, one was on the path. I had to jump over it on a bike because I saw it last minute. I got chased by one dog, I got stuck behind a group of cows on one small track. The wildest part was the riding at night in the jungle. The noise in there, your mind starts to play games. But then you just need to crack on and keep going," Bottas said.
While his mind was playing games, it was at least off a difficult ending to the Malaysia weekend which saw him spin off track and into the gravel on lap nine. It was a frustrating way to bow out given he had been performing well over the rest of the weekend and out-qualified team-mate Sergio Perez.
Clearing the mind for Singapore
Bottas said the long ride south "definitely cleared my mind immediately", which will be important for this weekend's Singapore race which is always a severe test of a driver's concentration and physical endurance. Much like the gravel cycling races Bottas likes to enter in his spare time.
In fact, he qualified for this year's World Gravel Cycling Championships, though he will be unable to take part as it clashes with this weekend's F1 action. He will continue to get on two wheels whenever he gets the chance, though, and did not rule out saddling up for another trip between two races in the future if the stars align.
"It was a fun adventure. I'm really glad I did it because like the locals said, I saw almost the whole of Malaysia in four days and the wild side of it. Without my bike I would never see those things. So if there's something in the future that makes sense and that I can recover for racing, sure," Bottas said.
Wet weather software ready for possible rain
There will also have been plenty of bugs in the Malaysian jungle, though none quite like the one which struck half the field on the formation lap in Malaysia. It made F1 a laughing stock as the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen joked about it being "like the LEGO race".
Though the FIA said on Thursday the wet weather software that was installed successfully at Sepang will be available again if it rains this weekend. And that is a real possibility with a 40 percent chance of a wet race for both the Grand Prix and Saturday's Sprint.
The governing body also vowed to take further steps to "strengthen" its engine software going forward.
