diff --git a/cassandra/util.py b/cassandra/util.py
index c6e2f0eda..0fe768ff2 100644
--- a/cassandra/util.py
+++ b/cassandra/util.py
@@ -1810,4 +1810,4 @@ def maybe_add_timeout_to_query(stmt: str, metadata_request_timeout: Optional[dat
     ms = int(metadata_request_timeout / datetime.timedelta(milliseconds=1))
     if ms == 0:
         return stmt
-    return f"{stmt} USING TIMEOUT {ms}ms"
+    return str(f"{stmt} USING TIMEOUT {ms}ms")