In 2018, Formula One made one of its most debated decisions: the removal of grid girls.
What came next wasn’t just controversy, but a cultural shift so significant that its effects are now starting to show up in the statistics, the paddocks, and the ambitions of an entire generation of young girls.
And whether or not the ban caused the change, it undeniably reshaped the environment these girls grew up in.
Let’s unpack what happened, what the numbers show, and why walking through the modern motorsport paddock looks very different from just a few years ago.
A Decision Meant to Modernise the Sport… With Unexpected Ripples
When F1 ended the grid-girl tradition, the reaction was immediate and polarising. Critics called it unnecessary. Traditionalists called it “the end of an era.”
Supporters argued it was a long-overdue step toward representing women as more than accessories in an increasingly professionalised sport. What no one fully predicted, however, was how the atmosphere around motorsport would subtly but unmistakably change, especially for young girls arriving at the track for the first time.
The Paddock They Walk Into Today Looks Completely Different
Before 2018, most young girls walking around an F1 paddock saw women primarily in promotional roles, standing beside cars, holding grid boards, posing for cameras. Now? They see something entirely different. They see women:
- racing in F4, F3, and F1 Academy
- Analysing data in team gear
- strategising on pit walls
- running karting programs
- coaching younger drivers
- turning wrenches and changing tyres
- interviewing champions and reporting live trackside
Women aren’t decorative fixtures anymore; they’re participants shaping the sport. And for kids, that matters. Children copy what they see. The environment trains their imagination long before any formal coaching does. A girl who once might have thought, “This isn’t for me,” can now look around and think, “This could be my world.”
Then the Numbers Started Climbing
Around the same time this cultural shift was taking place, something remarkable happened in the junior categories.
The big spike:
- Female participation in F4 doubled in a single season, rising from 17 to 35 drivers: a 106% jump.
- The following year? Another 40% rise.
- Federations reported more young women applying for licences.
- Karting programs explicitly built for girls began to fill faster than organisers could expand them.
These aren’t tiny changes… they’re big ones! And while there’s no study saying the grid-girls ban directly caused the rise, the timing does make you wonder what happens when the look and feel of a sport starts to shift.
Symbolism Matters More Than People Think
People underestimate how powerful symbolic change can be, especially for children. When the visible roles of women shift from “standing still for the cameras” to “driving, building, engineering, and decision-making,” the message is simple and profound:
Women belong here as competitors, not decoration.
And girls internalise that instantly. A sport they once saw from the outside suddenly becomes a space they can imagine themselves inside. It doesn’t mean the ban triggered the spike alone, far from it. We also saw:
- The rise of the F1 Academy
- investment in women’s development pathways
- more female role models in karting and junior formula
- increased media coverage
- cultural shifts across all sports
But the ban helped clear the stage for that progress to be visible, and visibility is everything.
A New Motorsport Identity Is Forming
Today’s paddock is full of daughters walking hand-in-hand with fathers who grew up watching grid girls, and now those same fathers point out female engineers, strategists, journalists, and racers with pride. Young girls aren’t being told where they fit. They’re seeing where they can go. The shift isn’t just statistical, it’s psychological. A generation is growing up seeing motorsport as a place for them, not a place where women stand on the sidelines.
So, Did the Ban Create More Female Racers?
The honest answer: not directly. Not alone. But it helped transform the environment that made this rise possible. And sometimes, a cultural reset is all it takes to open a door that’s been closed for too long. One thing is undeniable: The girls entering motorsport today are no longer dreaming from the outside. They’re walking into paddocks and seeing women doing the things they want to do, and that changes everything.
Conclusion: The Future Is No Longer Theoretical: It’s Arriving
Love the ban or hate it, it’s helped change the picture. Girls walking into the paddock now see women racing, making decisions, running teams, not just standing on the sidelines. Ambition feels normal, not like some act of rebellion. The route into the sport is clearer than it’s ever been. And maybe that’s the real win here.
