It's hard to know upon which side to stand on this one .

Generally , these girls are models , and make their money based on their looks .
This is the glamour industry , and it's not hard to argue that adding beautiful people to any event adds glamour .

I'd like to know just how many girls apply for these few positions , as it would show just how much the postings are coveted .

The sad messages being sent from ex-grid girls right now speak of great times , no harassment , and good pay , so , hardly an indictment of any exploitation .
More a stab at the politically correct landscape , where the "casting couch" sits central in the room , pushing "sleeping your way to the top" to the side .

Perhaps a polling of the crowd that watches F1 would have been the most truly politically correct way to do this .
Some good debate would put the very same message out . It would show concern , but at the same time , ask the very people watching if that's a part of what they wanted to watch .

It would have , and perhaps still could , put F1 in the limelight for provoking the discussion , rather than jerking it's corporate knee .


I get why the practice isn't universally liked . It's kind of obvious .

But , if it's OK to be a model , to stand pretty beside a shiny car , to strut a runway , or , indeed , to put on make-up at all to enhance one's looks , then surely there must be some degrees of what is considered to be good and bad in it all .

Maybe I'm a dinosaur , but I'd rather watch a grid girl deliver the hats and champagne to the podium than some dirty mechanic or some baggy pants dignitary .
It's all a part of the cache , where the drivers take the risks , to be rewarded with the money , the glamour , the excesses of the position , and the envy of every young man(or woman) who's ever sat beside another car revving the engine at a red light .


And , after all that rant , I think I do know upon which side of the fence I'm sitting .
As long as they are not forced in any way to do it , I think they add to the show .