Starting the 2018 racing season, the famous walk-on grid girls will no longer be a sight for sore drivers on the tarmac of the world's tracks, Formula 1 officials announced on Wednesday. The measure will also apply to the motorsports series that are being held during the Grands Prix weekends.
The official reason behind this decision is the fact that the time spent on the track before the race should be the perfect moment for promoters and partners to promote whatever they feel like supporting. And, says Formula 1 officials, girls on the grid are an inappropriate practice that is not relevant to the sport and its fans.
“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, Managing Director, Commercial Operations at Formula 1.
"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.”
The move announced by F1 is not the first in sports, and it will probably not be the last, as organizations scramble to protect themselves from the plague of sexual scandals which has made big names fall in disgrace this past year.
Last week, the Professional Darts Corporation announced it will drop the use of walk-on girls to escort the players to the stage.
The Formula 1 rights were sold by Bernie Ecclestone to American Liberty Media Corporation, born in the 1990s as a spin-off of TCI, an American cable-television group, in January last year. The start of the 2018 racing season in to take place in Melbourne. Australia, on March 25.
“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, Managing Director, Commercial Operations at Formula 1.
"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.”
The move announced by F1 is not the first in sports, and it will probably not be the last, as organizations scramble to protect themselves from the plague of sexual scandals which has made big names fall in disgrace this past year.
Last week, the Professional Darts Corporation announced it will drop the use of walk-on girls to escort the players to the stage.
The Formula 1 rights were sold by Bernie Ecclestone to American Liberty Media Corporation, born in the 1990s as a spin-off of TCI, an American cable-television group, in January last year. The start of the 2018 racing season in to take place in Melbourne. Australia, on March 25.