‘Grid girls’ will no longer be used by Formula 1 from the start of the 2018 World Championship season, organisers have announced.
Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations, said the change would be made “so as to be more in tune with our vision for this great sport”.
F1 managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn told BBC Radio 5 live in December that the use of female promotional models was “under review”.
The new F1 season begins on 25 March.
‘Grid girls’ are models used to conduct certain promotional tasks, usually wearing clothing that bears the name of a sponsor.
Among their duties in F1 are holding umbrellas or driver name-boards on the grid, and lining the corridor through which the drivers walk on their way to the podium.
Their use has become the subject of debate as social attitudes have changed, and some races have begun to experiment with alternatives, such as using male models instead of female, or children as mascots.
Source: BBC Sport
