Before the weekend a representative from Formula One management had been insistent that the race would not host the return of grid girls. In January when they were dropped the commercial director, Sean Bratches, said grid girls were “at odds with modern day societal norms” and “not appropriate or relevant to F1”. Monaco’s “female sponsorship representatives” would not be standing in front of grid slots nor holding boards identifying drivers, therefore they were not, F1 avowed, grid girls. Which on Sunday transpired to be arrant nonsense. Monaco most definitely had grid girls. Standing in front of grid slots and holding boards with the drivers’ names on, albeit ones also displaying a message from a fan and with a ‘grid boy’ alongside them. They were dressed in revealing, sheer outfits and had the sponsor’s logo painted on their shoulder blades. An object lesson in objectification if ever there was one. F1’s lofty ideal to move the sport into the 21st century had been summarily dismissed and its denials of the reality on Sunday were made to look almost laughable.
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