Ex-Grid Girl Wants Sydney Sweeney To Lead Them Back to F1: ‘She’d Make So Many People Angry’

English model and former F1 grid girl Leilani Dowding has backed Sydney Sweeney to attend the upcoming Las Vegas GP as a grid girl to help revive the practice in the sport. She claimed that Sweeney would ‘make so many people angry’ if she did do this at the race in the United States in November.

“Sydney Sweeney would make a fantastic grid girl. I’d love to see her doing it for the Las Vegas GP, she’d be one of my favorites. She should get her boots on and get on that grid,” Dowding told grandprix247.

“I think she’d be wonderful. She’d make so many people angry, especially because you can just imagine them raging, with steam coming out of their heads,” she added.

Grid girls were removed from F1 following the 2017 season, a decision that came after Liberty Media took control of the sport in 2018. The practice began as early as the late 1960s at the Japanese GP, with many considering Japanese model and singer Rosa Ogawa the first grid girl.

Liberty Media stated that the reason for the ban was that the tradition was “at odds with modern-day societal norms”.

Leilani Dowding Reflects on Grid Girls Ban in F1: ‘I Thought It Was Crazy’

Dowding has recalled her reaction when F1 banned grid girls in 2018, saying that she thought that the decision was ‘crazy’. She also contested the idea that the practice was objectifying women, saying that the girls who were involved in doing the job did not feel that at all.

“I thought it was crazy. I remember thinking, ‘What is going on?’ It was always really welcoming.”

“The only people who would say stupid things, such as that we were being objectified, were people who weren’t involved and had never spoken to us. They were looking in from the outside.

Anybody involved in F1 was very welcoming. The people who were there on the grids were welcoming, and the people watching F1 were welcoming. It’s not as though you saw the grid girls all that much on television.”

Dowding also added that she could not understand why many people made a huge ‘fuss’ about the situation, as she recalled many signing petitions and campaigning to remove grid girls from the sport.

Leilani Dowding Calls the F1 Grid Girls Ban ‘Patronizing’

Dowding has also branded the F1 grid girl ban and the discourse surrounding it at the time as ‘patronizing’. She explained that doing that job was her personal choice, as nobody could tell her that the role was ‘exploitative’.

“It was completely patronizing, as though we had no control or agency over what we were doing ourselves. It was our choice to do it. We enjoyed it and loved it.

“There were a lot of girls I knew who did it, and it paid really well and meant we could do things we wanted. I was saving up to put a deposit on a flat. Friends of mine were saving up to pay for university.

“For someone to say, ‘you can’t do this because we believe it’s exploitative’…who are they to say that? All of us were having a really good time, making amazing friends and earning decent money,” said Dowding.

Dowding added that she continues to advocate bringing grid girls back to F1 as it was another hope of employment for many women, and a return to the tradition would bring more opportunity and freedom of choice for many women.

More F1 Reading

• Journo Calls Fred Vasseur ‘A Chuckling Buffoon’ After Charles Leclerc Insult Got Him Banned From F1
• ‘Wouldn’t Want To Comment’: Charles Leclerc Refuses To Weigh In on Lewis Hamilton Question
• Kimi Antonelli Names the Driver He Expects To Be Biggest Challenge in 2027 F1 Title Chase
• ‘It Wasn’t That Bad’: Toto Wolff Pushes Back Against Mercedes’ Winless Period Criticism