The new great grid girl debate

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

Greem, not sure if it was you, but someone suggested (maybe in the other thread that was closed) the easy answer here is to use this as a "fan involvement" opportunity. It was/is such an obvious good idea it boggles why it hasn't already been done.

I know I did on a couple of FB groups, and I may have done so here. You are quite correct, it's massively obvious but F1 has been known to have a NIH attitude to certain things... so it's nice to see them adopting something which practically the entire world thinks is a good idea. If nothing else, it'll be a memorable day out!

[loon]

lets make the sport more accessible to the offspring of the filthy rich who will pay through the nose to get junior on the grid, lets kick everybody off the grid except for the mechanics, more sport less glitz

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Have you got a suitable costume?

I can go as a Pokemon at Suzuka.

[S griffin]

Well yes I agree this should help young fans be interested in the sport, no bad thing at all

[bella]

Originally Posted by Greem

I genuinely can't understand the whole 'exploitation' thing at all. It seems that this is one of those "I HAVE TO BE ANGRY ABOUT SOMETHING" knee-jerk responses

same.

i'd have cleaned my room every day for a year to get this kind of opportunity when i was little. what an awesome opportunity.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by loon

lets make the sport more accessible to the offspring of the filthy rich who will pay through the nose to get junior on the grid

While initially I though that a very negative response, the BBC TV sports prog just discussed the proposal and the same point was made on there- maybe by viewers. Perhaps not in the same words , but inferring similar sentiments.....

It's a great opportunity to involve young racers (boys and girls) from junior motorsport. Fingers crossed the various national ASNs adhere to the principles of the proposal!

[Peter Mallett]

And tge FIA drops the minimum age for children in pit lane and trackside.

[Armco Bender]

This is age dicrimination...as a marginalised older person why cant they have Grandparent Grid People...
Well thats as long as we can remember where the race is and we can have an incontinence break every half hour.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

And tge FIA drops the minimum age for children in pit lane and trackside.

You have a point there.....

[bella]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

And tge FIA drops the minimum age for children in pit lane and trackside.

meh, a risk assessment would point out that the cars don't get to their grid positions under their own steam any more. the grid is cleared before there's any danger. the grid is populated before cars leave the pitlane. shouldn't be too much of an issue.

the only thing they'd need to look at is gp2 and gp3, i think they do still drive up to their grid places under their own steam but i'm sure they'll figure that one out.

[275 GTB-4]

Grid kids (8-15?) will be on the grid for the Australian GP this year...they are rising "stars" from Karting and other disciplines...and will be supplemented by other youngsters parading the Flags of the Nations competing...

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Here's a cute and novel idea - why not Grid Kids. The AFL Grand Final does it excellently, letting little kids in the team gear hand the players their winning medals after the game. As well as most AFL games with junior mascots. Why not have 20 youngens dressed in team gear? They don't have to be 3-5 year olds obviously for the safety reasons. Could be 10-14 year old kids who love F1, have a comp for every race, make it something the fans can engage with....

...or will that then start a debate on child oppression?

Well then.....

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

I was wondering if F1 has been taken over by the Catholic church or the Tory party

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

I was wondering if F1 has been taken over by the Catholic church or the Tory party

Well, on the last years we've seen UBS sponsorship on several tracks... And you must know UBS logo is very similar to the one of the Vatican State, at least in the keys positions. And is something into it...

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Well then.....

The Power of Ten Tenths........

[E.B]

All Liberty need do now is get rid of the dreadful 'celebrity' poseurs that populate the grid pre race, particularly those with no GP interest beyond getting their faces spread across social media and TV. Lock them in the hospitality suites if they have to attend.

[midgetman]

+1!

Preferably lock them in hospitality suites miles from the circuit. For ever.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by midgetman

+1!

Preferably lock them in hospitality suites miles from the circuit. For ever.

You beat me to it!

[bella]

just to be awkward, they *do* fulfil some purpose - what with social media and the like and gossip columns they’re part of keeping f1 in the news. which does need to happen when you’ve got massive money sponsors.

see: kylie going to formula e created a fair amount of noise. inb4 “i didn’t hear or see it so it didn’t happen”

[Greem]

JHCOAB

The social media reaction has now transformed from a simple split of 'Great!' and 'Meh', through 'Child Exploitation' all the way to 'The paedos will love this'.

How do people have the energy to be outraged about everything all the time?

[bella]

Originally Posted by Greem

JHCOAB

The social media reaction has now transformed from a simple split of 'Great!' and 'Meh', through 'Child Exploitation' all the way to 'The paedos will love this'.

How do people have the energy to be outraged about everything all the time?

on the plus side, as well as showing us who to unfollow, it's doing a lovely job of outing the people who us women talk about when we say "sexism is alive and well"

i think they're so invested in hating change that they lose the ability to see what is and isn't a positive step forward.

[mark_l]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

And tge FIA drops the minimum age for children in pit lane and trackside.

The FIA will ignore that regulation when it is them breaking it. I can't see an FIA steward penalising the FIA race director for breaching that rule, when it is an FIA approved initiative.

Do as we say, not as we do.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by mark_l

The FIA will ignore that regulation when it is them breaking it. I can't see an FIA steward penalising the FIA race director for breaching that rule, when it is an FIA approved initiative.

Do as we say, not as we do.

A bit like how Monaco and other street circuits get a “free pass” on “track safety” however all the permenant road circuits have to have 20 acres of tarmac run off at every corner...? I love the FIA, they are so consistent.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by bella

see: kylie going to formula e created a fair amount of noise. inb4 “i didn’t hear or see it so it didn’t happen”

Noise? Formula E? Impossible!

[bella]

Originally Posted by mark_l

Do as we say, not as we do.

taking this quote WAY out of context, but this is what it feels like being a woman

Originally Posted by steve_r

Good move - make the sport more accessible to kids. Hopefully inspire them - much like they did in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony etc.

exactly - wasn't there a couple of athletes who were responsible for bringing out and taking away the competitors kit at the start of some of the track events who did go on to compete in the next olympics?

the difference between the olympics and f1 is that you don't have to be a driver to compete in f1. everyone who works for a team is competing one way or another. all children need to be inspired to aim for f1, there's so many skills involved that as a nation we're short of, and there's something for everyone.

course i also think as a nation we brits should be a lot prouder of the fact we're actually producing a lot of the components involved in f1 cars, especially in a period where we're losing a lot of small engineering companies to retirement and a lack of people wanting to take on running the business.