Eric Thompson: Formula 1 has lost the plot with the grid girls

Scuderia Toro Rosso grid girls during the Formula One Grand Prix of Japan. Photo / Getty Images

This whole banning of grid girls thing by Formula One has made the hackles on the back of my neck stir. It's yet 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.

I wonder if any of the organisation's decision makers actually went out and asked the current crop of grid girls if they wanted their jobs canned? I sincerely doubt it.
I feel sorry for attractive, fit young people these days, as it appears to be turning into a curse. I can see it now — the next re-run of Bay Watch will have the women running down the beach in a deep sea diver's wetsuit.

It's not like the grid girls were marched out onto the grid at gun point and made to stand there holding up a cardboard sign. Many of them are students trying to make a bit of cash to help with their studies, looking at it as a step and exposure for a modelling career and some are even fans of the sport who use the opportunity to get close to the drivers.

What bothers me the most about this whole 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, 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 organization 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 take the silver coins from countries who have little interest in the welfare of their citizens. Go figure.

There is something else a bit amiss about this sudden interest in respect for women. I wonder if it's a bit of slight 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, get anyone to pass someone else 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 drivers helmet from view. One of the great things about single-seater racing was that you could see the drivers head moving around, unlike in tin tops where you can't see a thing.

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 and 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 pure bred race horse that's beautiful to look at and sounds fantastic in full flight.

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