FX.co ★ Formula 1 to stop using grid girls

All shares of Formula 1 were bought in January 2017 by Liberty Media for $8 billion. A year later, the management spoke about the first steps in the modernization of the races.

"Over the last year we have looked at a number of areas which we felt needed updating so as to be more in tune with our vision for this great sport.

While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern-day social norms.” Bratches said the practice was not “appropriate or relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the world."

Most likely, the contradiction with modern-day social norms, which Bratches mentioned, has to do with the issues of gender equality which have recently been actively raised around the Formula 1.

Thus, the women's association Women's Sport Trust demanded to recognize that in the 21 century, the work of models in the grid area is unacceptable. It puts them in an unequal position with men: girls at the races are serving personnel while racing is only for men.

The women's sports association published a message to the company's managment warmly welcoming this decision: "Thank you F1 for deciding to stop using grid girls. Another sport making a clear choice about what they want to stand for."

Girls will not participate not only in Formula 1 but also in the support race. There was already the experience of abandoning the grid girls in 2015 when the hot beauties with the racers' numbers did not appear at the endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans. And at the Grand Prix Formula 1 in Monaco, they decided to replace them with guys in tight T-shirts. Both experiments were a failure, as they aroused discontent among the fans.

The management of the Russian Grand Prix, commenting on the decision, noted that such a practice will allow the host country to better show the national culture and sporting traditions within the pre-start ceremony.

Grid girls took the decision with indignation.

Girls publish on social networks photos saying how they love their work and that in recent years the costumes of the models have undergone significant changes.

Indeed, the dresses became stylish and restrained, and in some cases, girls wore something similar to racing overalls.

For the first time grid girls appeared on races in 1969 in Japan when the Cosmo Oil company made the model Rosa Ogawa the face of the company. The girl participated in the ceremony of rewarding racers strolling in a racing helmet. This idea was also taken up by other participants. And already in the 70s, the girls became one of the symbols of Formula 1.