MotoGP: Spanish politicians clamping down on grid girls

Catalan political party Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds has become the second Spanish political party in only a month to attempt to implement rules on grid girls in motorsport, in an attempt to end what they call sexist practices in the sport.

The new rules proposed in time for next month’s Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona would not ban grid girls but instead place a dress code in place for them, as well as bringing gender normalisation by adding equal numbers of grid boys.

Speaking to local radio, party spokesperson Jordi Manils told radio station Cadena Ser Catalunya that the practice is outdated.

“The role the grid girls play today at the Circuit de Catalunya is not fitting of the 21st century, of a society that aims to be modern and egalitarian. What it does is objectify and vex women with a role in which they are a simple object and an ornament of the situation.”

The move by the Catalan party comes after Jerez city council passed a motion calling for the practice to be stopped for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, only to be rebuffed by series organisers Dorna.

The role of grid girls has been increasingly questioned in recent years as the sport attempts to attract more female viewers, with many criticising that often the professional models are the only women visible working in a male-dominated paddock.

Some teams have already stopped using grid girls, with the Pull&Bear Aspar Ducati team deciding that it no longer fitted with their or their sponsor’s image for the 2017 season.