F1 Bans "Grid Girls"
Walk-on 'grid girls' scrapped from Formula One races
Formula One says the custom does not resonate with its brand values and "clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms".
Women who walk on to the grid at the start of Formula One races will no longer be used, the sport's organisers have said.The change will apply from the start of the new Grand Prix season, with the first race taking place in Melbourne, Australia on 25 March.
The women, commonly called grid girls, are often seen carrying the drivers' standards which indicate their race numbers and their location on the starting line.
They also often line the route that the top three drivers take as they head to the podium at the end of a race.
Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at F1, said: "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 societal norms.
"We don't believe the practice is appropriate or relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the world."
Liberty Media, the sport's organiser, said the changes would apply to other motorsports it organises during grand prix weekends.
The sport said it still considers the time drivers and team members spend on the grid before a race should be one of "celebration, where guests and various performers can add to the glamour" but added that the aim now was that "promoters and partners" should "showcase their countries and products".
The organisers of some of darts' biggest tournaments, the Professional Darts Corporation, also recently decided to stop using walk-on girls.
Oh no!!!!!!!! That was going to be my next venture 😉😉😂 On a serious note.... really?!?!? Is that not part of motorsport? Also, job loss for the girls who take part. The grid girls I know enjoy their job. https://t.co/VkhfWnsS4v— Alice Powell (@alicepowell) 31 de enero de 2018
Tens of thousands of people, including former PDC world champion Raymond van Barneveld, signed a petition calling on the group to change its mind.
Other sports still regularly employ women to perform various functions before and during events.
Boxing and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) both feature "ring girls", who tell the crowd which round is coming up by holding up numbered cards, generally while wearing revealing outfits.
No one is saying women shouldn't be allowed to do whatever they want career wise. Literally no one. It is the *concept* of grid girls and what it represents that is the issue. And if you truly don't understand why it is an issue then, quite frankly, yikes.— Alice (@countvoncrash) 31 de enero de 2018
Cheerleaders are also used widely in American sports, with teams and franchises having their own professional squads.
Cycling is another sport which traditionally uses "podium girls" to appear with race winners.
Reaction on Twitter was, unsurprisingly, split.
Comments
I can see the finishing of the grid girls. As always, there are supporters of the walk-on and who thinks that it is at odds with modern day societal norms. As who have to make a decision are women, they should be who chose if the grid girls is advisable or not. I suppose that feminist women are against the gird girls and, on the contrary, women who are working in formula one, in cycling or in the sports event are angry. Cheerleaders are working in basketball, especially in USA, and it’s possible that they lose their employment. A lot of women will lose her employment if the managing director of companies doesn’t want to employ women because the walk-on can be harmful to their brand values.
This is an issue very sensitive, about what nobody wants to express. I prefer freedom, but I’m not expert. With all due respect, I think that always there is a solution that was beneficial to every interest. It’s necessary an agreement between women and companies, different treatment, for instance, companies could change the “walk-on” by other roles, active role.
See you.
Now you have joined the likes of Elton John, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Sean Connery and Mick Jagger. It is astonishing. What a feat!
As for stories like the one about grid girls, I am getting sick and tired of them. It seems that every day some women are upset about a trivial matter.
Men can't pay compliments or raise their voices to women for fear of being labelled a male-chauvenist.
Don't get me wrong. There are real injustices that need sorting out. Let's deal with them and not be distracted by ridiculous stories like the grid girls.
I can see the finishing of the grid girls. (I'm not sure what you mean here - I can see grid girls coming to an end ?) As always, there are supporters of the walk-on and those who think that it is at odds with modern day societal norms. As/Since those who have to make the decision are women, they should be the ones who choose if the grid girls is advisable or not. I suppose that feminist women are against the gird girls and, contrary to, women who work in formula one, in cycling or in any sports events are angry. Cheerleaders work in basketball, especially in USA, and they might lose / it’s possible that they will lose their employment. A lot of women will lose their jobs if the managing director of companies doesn’t want to employ women because the walk-on can be harmful to their brand values.
This is a very sensitive issue, about which nobody wants to express their views. I prefer freedom, but I’m not an expert. With all due respect, I think that there is always a solution that is beneficial to every interest. An agreement is necessary between women and companies, different treatment, for instance, companies could change the “walk-on” for other roles, active roles.