Yes, it wasn’t ‘fake’ news, the new American owners of F1 have decreed that there will be no more grid girls, or lovelies on the podium. In modern usage, the word ‘puritan’ is often used to describe someone who adheres to strict, joyless moral or religious principles. In this usage, hedonism and puritanism are on the opposite sides of the fence.
I’m sorry Liberty (which seems an oxymoron) Media you bought F1 and didn’t realize that it was built on hedonism. People having fun, right from the spectators through to the gladiators in their chariots, plus the odd lion or two.
Formula One Management (FOM) said in their press release that grid girls are to no longer be used at Formula One World Championship events, be it the Grand Prix or support events.
In the press release, FOM said, “Formula 1 will end the long-standing practice of using walk-on grid girls, commencing with the start of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season. These changes also apply to our other motorsports series that take place during the Grands Prix weekends.
“Formula 1 considers the time spent by teams and drivers on the grid before a race as one of celebration, where guests and various performers can add to the glamour and spectacle of the Grand Prix, enabling promoters and partners to showcase their countries and products.
“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,” said Sean Bratches, an FOM mouthpiece.
“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.”
What is next? Wolf whistles banned within the earshot of any females, bikinis burned and Walking Street not allowed to have dancers, and the end of the “pretties” at the motor shows, and finally, no cheerleaders from Primary school and upwards as knickers might be seen under the short skirts. I presume that women will be banished to the kitchen and we can bring back burning at the stake.
Liberty Media, which has done nothing positive to stem the flow of spectators from F1 to other types of racing, is guilty once more of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
As a thought to ponder, we, in the lower categories have always brought our own grid girls and paid for them ourselves. Will F1’s loss be our gain?
