women in motorsport

[hovers]

I've been a follower of formula1 for a long time, but I was shocked at the end of the British F1 coverage on Sunday to see "grid girls" lined up to clap the winners as they went to the podium.

Clearly I've seen this in plently of previous races, (and perhaps I've been a bit blind to it), but I'd always dismissed it as something that happened in other countries which were perhaps more sexist / less enlightened than the UK. For some reason I had it in mind that the use of girls as window dressing in motosport was abandoned years ago. It's not what I want my daughter to see when we watch motorsports.

Yeah, it's crap isn't it.

It has always been at the UK races. But you will notice that our grid girls are more conservatively dressed. I have long felt uncomfortable with the whole grid girl thing. It is so outdated. It leafs to a belief that racing is for men and no wonder so few women get into the sport.
I love formula one and have watched for years but am getting increasingly pissed of with the patriarchy.
A campaign is needed but have no idea how to start one. Anyone else got any ideas.
If f1 can move to electric cars then they can move beyond 1970's values. I am sure the drivers would agree.

The grid girls at Silverstone were dressed in 1950s/60s dresses: I imagine it was because Silverstone was celebrating its 50the Grand Prix this last weekend and it seemed appropriate.

The fact we have grid girls is, of course, totally inappropriate.

If they need people to hold the flags and look after the drivers on the podium why don't they ask school kids or equal numbers of men and women.
Yes I figured that the dresses were to do with the anniversary. But uk grid gals are often dressed more primly.
off to the Internet to find apetition to sign.

It's even worse in motorcycle racing, Lycra clad models on the grid, the podium, up in the public access places selling whatever. I thought we'd come so far but whenever I go to a race or show, it's like going backwards in time. :(

Biking is hugely off-putting for a lot of women and the more you get towards racing the worse it gets. There are some appalling attitudes in the various sub-cultures and (I think) it's still the case that you'll get bikini / lingerie photoshoots in some of the biking magazines.

There are some high up women in motorsport. A good example is Leena Gade - chief engineer for Audi at Le Mans.

I wonder if Ana Carrasco (Moto3) gets a scantily clad young man, or Jenny Tinmouth (BSB and the fastest woman round the Isle of Man) does too. Actually, I don't, because they don't either, they get the scantily clad women. It's a bit outdated imo.

Good though to see that Sauber has a female team principal in Monisha Keltanborn and the fast reviving Williams has a deputy team principal in Claire Williams.

McLaren are enthusiastic supporters of female engineers etc. See
[www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-ron-dennis-working-hard-on-stem-initiatives/]

Sauber has also signed Indy car driver Simona di Silvestro as an affiliated driver with a prospect of a 2015 drive and Susi Wolff is a test driver for Williams (though of course the allegations have already been made that she has only got the opportunity because her husband Toto Wolff is boss of the Mercedes team).

If F1 can find some decent female drivers and with numbers of women technical experts growing maybe the 'women as decoration' philosophy of the sport will gradually change.

Susi Wolff could have done a great thing for women in Motorsport this weekend just gone. She was the first female driver to participate in an F1 weekend since 1992. The fact she didn't do so well thanks to an engine malfunction is unfortunate.

However, it is also unfortunate that one other driver Sergio Perez decides to make an "hilarious" comment about how he wouldn't like a female teammate as they were "better to stay in the kitchen". If I wasn't shocked enough at this, I was by the fact Susi Wolff defended his comment saying it was "only a joke".

It may be "only a joke" but it also may be the reason that there has been 1 female driver in 22 years. It may also be the reason that it may be some time before there is another!