Page 84 - Bespoke Issue

We haven’t touched on the other big news, the loss of the Grid girls. We have always supported the grid girls through our photography coverage. As Bernie Ecclestone said, they are part of the spectacle, and doesn’t see how anyone could be offended by the old practice of using grid girls.
“ I can’t see how a good looking girl standing in front of a formula one car can be offensive to anybody.”
“They are all nicely dressed. I would think people like Rolex and Heineken wouldn’t have girls there who weren’t presentable”
Others though have welcomed the move and supported Liberty’s decision - some believing it was the right move and taking away something that was starting to draw criticism. Stewart Pringle, the managing director of Silverstone being one such person “ We wholeheartedly support the decision by F1 to drop the use of grid girls - it is an outdated practice that no longer has a place in sport.” However the biggest criticism has come from the girls themselves, as they have lost job opportunities because of the decision. With some angry that women should be told what they could or could not do. One girl said “ So the inevitable has happened, F1 grid girls have been banned.”
“Ridiculous that women who say they are “Fighting for women’s rights” are saying what others should and shouldn’t do, stopping us from doing a job we love and are proud to do. Political correctness gone mad.” We think the debate will go on long after the grid girls have left unfortunately.
So, back to the unseasonal weather for the Barcelona testing. What are the early indications to be gathered from a bad weather week? It seems Mercedes are still the ones to beat. It was dif cult to ascertain testing this year, as the track temperatures were none existent and the foul weather made the teams choose different agendas. Dif cult if you can’t get the tyres up to temperature, or get the
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