HAM in hot water?

[kfzmeister]

Looks like the feminists are at it pretty seriously. HAM is in hot water by a group that claims that he mistreated a gridgirl on the podium after the China GP.

To me it seems petty. If this is so degrading to women, why not work to get them off the grid completely. Me thinks that would do more for image.Thoughts?

[airshifter]

Maybe the feminists should worry about why a woman would want to be there to begin with?

Vettel and at least a couple others have hosed down whoever is left in the podium area once the champagne wars begin. As it should be. Barring any big dignitaries and such, people should expect that they could get sprayed down.

[Tazio]

Classic example of pen*s envy.
69% Those gurlz would crawl 5 km over broken glass at 2 km h^{−1
to get hosed down by "The Boss" or his woman!}

[Mia 01]

champange should be served in glasses. Kind of understand Nicole now.

[Tazio]

Would you like a dinner date with Slash sweetie?

[N4D13]

While I understand most women violence issues, this one I don't. You usually get race drivers trying to soak EVERYONE who they have close, and it's not uncommon that a driver would try to aim for the VIPs if they were a bit slow to get out of the podium. Someone is just trying to make noise for their cause and they've chosen the wrong example IMHO.

Incidentally, this actually takes the light away from a legitimate discussion - why should there be grid girls and not grid boys?

[AndyL]

I agree. Blame whoever put them up there just to look decorative in the first place. Not the driver who champagnes everyone on the podium in the traditional fashion.

I don't understand their purpose in F1. In most classes of racing, the models on the podium are there to draw attention to the race sponsor's logo that they're wearing. The ones in F1 can't even claim to have that value.

[The Black Knight]

Looks like the feminists are at it pretty seriously. HAM is in hot water by a group that claims that he mistreated a gridgirl on the podium after the China GP.

To me it seems petty. If this is so degrading to women, why not work to get them off the grid completely. Me thinks that would do more for image.Thoughts?

The funny thing about this is that you have girls lining up the boys every grand prix weekend as they walk to the podium. Why have girls at all? They are uptight because he put champagne in her face, yet drivers have done this numerous times over the years. What a bunch of morons complaining about this haha

[DannyQ]

i think more than anything he let his emotions go to his head an over reaction in my book

[TheFamousEccles]

Simply stating that drivers have been doing this for years is missing the point.

The girls were present as representative of whatever organisation (which organisation is not an issue - the track maybe?), and as such were there to perform a job - spurious as it was. I can't imagine anyone would agree that this would be appropriate for the office; the boss (pun intended) signs a big contract and celebrates by lining up the females and spraying them with champers - there would be much tut-tutting and lawsuits abounding.

I would wager that they would prefer not to be hosed down in some pseudo macho display, especially by a nonce like Lulu.

It's old, degrading and has had it's day. If it was changed up a little, say for example there were male model types on the dais, or even better IMO - the drivers were lined up and the girls hosed them with champers, and ignored all protestations to stop. Oh what larfs, stop taking it so seriously, they've done it for ages....

Bottom line, it reinforces the neanderthal image of elite level sports people (men in particular), and it's all a bit naff and should be done away with all together (along with the ridiculous post race interview on the podium, what crap that is).

2 cents are in the post....