The calendar was born out of interest in the prints Bottas sold last year and was created by photographer Paul Ripke.
A first print run of 10,000 copies quickly sold out via the website www.bottass.com, so more were printed.
Bottas also admitted that his mother was initially confused by his decision to strip, until she was assured that the aim was to raise money for charity, particularly prostate cancer research.
On Thursday, Bottas revealed the success of his project on social media.
“Thank you so much for all the support,” she wrote. “With the donations and calendars we have together raised a considerable sum for Movember – which means that we have really helped and that we will influence and save many people’s lives.”
“The final figures will be calculated in the next few days, but we are talking about around $150,000 in funds raised!”
Explaining how the calendar project came about, he added: “Last year, when I launched that photo in Aspen, it was very popular.
Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 Team
“And we actually raised quite a bit of money. Because I do a lot of things with Ripke, who’s a good friend, we started joking around with the idea, ‘Imagine if there was a full calendar.'”
“And then as we got closer to November, the month of Movember, we started thinking that this was something we could do, something very, very cool.”
“And we decided that yes, let’s do it, but for charity. It’s mainly for prostate cancer research, so I think it’s for a good cause.”
Explaining this choice, he said: “Movember is focusing a lot on this issue. I know some people who have had problems with this type of thing.”
“And I think even for men, like Movember, which focuses on men’s health, a lot of people are afraid to talk about these types of things. And I put myself out there, showing myself, trying to be an example. As a human body, there is no need to be shy.”
When asked about the reaction of friends and family, the Finn admitted that he had to convince his mother that it was something useful.
“Well, I got a text from my mom,” he said. “Like, ‘What is this?’ She doesn’t understand English very well and she saw some of the videos I posted, and she was quite confused and protective. Like, ‘Are you sure this is the path you want to go down?’
“Then I explained the charity thing, and that’s fine. I had questions, people asking me why did you do it? Why do you want to show your ass?”
“But then I explained the beneficial aspect and people understood it. And we had a lot of fun, as you can imagine, taking those photos.”
“We had an art gallery available on Monday in Las Vegas and the people who came had no idea what was going to happen.”
“They were confused when we started showing each print, step by step, that they wondered, ‘What’s going on?’. But then they realized it was fun and for charity. It was fun.”
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