Hypocrisy in F1’s ban of grid girls

Formula One banning grid girls is another case of a bunch of over privileged, middle aged white men taking it upon themselves to make the world a better place for women.

How many of the organisation’s decision-makers asked these women if they wanted their jobs canned?

Many of them were students trying to make a bit of cash to help with their studies; some looked at it as a step towards a modelling career and some were even fans of the sport who used the opportunity to get close to the drivers.

What bothers me the most about this fiasco, is that the blokes who run the F1 circus are happy to shut down the perceived exploitation of women saying it’s no longer the image they want to portray. But on the other hand, they are more than happy to pocket tens of millions of dollars from countries run by repressive regimes who treat women as chattels and second-class citizens.

In a recent Amnesty International report China, Russia and Hungary are all in the top 10 of countries where there have been attacks on individual human rights. The Middle East venues aren’t much better either.

It’s odd that an organisation can repress the right for women to work in the name of creating a better image, but on the other side of the Janus mask they take the silver coins from countries who have little interest in the welfare of their citizens. Go figure.

There is something else a amiss about this sudden interest in respect for women. I wonder if it’s sleight of hand to distract from the dwindling number of fans of the sport. It’s almost like the category owners can’t get the cars right, can’t get anyone to pass with any regularity, or make the sport exciting to people other than propeller heads.

The 2018 season will see the introduction of the halo, which will almost entirely obscure the driver’s helmet from view. One of the great things about single-seater racing was that you could see the driver’s head moving around, unlike in tin tops where you can’t see a thing inside.

Formula One seems to have lost its way in the past few years and new owners Liberty Media came in with all the grand plans but nothing has happened. Maybe it’s time to end the category as it’s turning into a bit of a camel — something designed by a committee to the lowest common denominator — rather than a purebred racehorse which is beautiful to look at and sounds fantastic in full flight.