Former Page 3 model and Miss Great Britain winner Leilani Dowding has criticised “woke s***” after sharing a throwback photo of herself as an F1 grid girl at the 2001 British Grand Prix.
Throwback to 2001 Grid Girl Days
Dowding, who rose to fame in the late 90s as a pageant titleholder and glamour model, reshared the image on social media, writing: “Wow. How was this 25 years ago! Doing the grids for Hot Wheels before this woke shit came about and they stopped it all! They stopped us making money this way.”
She wore a Hot Wheels skin-tight jumpsuit at the British Grand Prix in 2001. F1 dropped grid girls at the start of the 2018 season, stating the practice was “at odds with modern-day societal norms” and did not align with the sport’s brand values.
Outspoken on Double Standards
Dowding has been vocal about the ban, highlighting what she sees as hypocrisy over revealing outfits worn by pop stars. In 2023, she criticised Sam Smith’s costume in the music video for ‘I’m Not Here To Make Friends’, where Smith wears a corset and suspenders with nipple tassels.
She wrote on social media: “I remember all those angry women who are sure to ban grid girls and podium girls. Where are their voices now when kids can watch graphic hardcore or a touch of a button, and pop stars wriggle around in simulated golden showers.”
She ended her post with: “Me on left doing what's now banned” and shared a snap of herself as a grid girl in 2002 alongside a grab of Smith in the music video, noting she was more covered than the artist.
Support from Kelly Brook
Dowding also replied to a fan who slammed the double standards, fuming: “Degrading. It was fun and amazing money, and something so many girls wanted to do. They attacked beauty and women's form...”
She is not the only glamour model to criticise the ban. Kelly Brook, who posed at the 1998 British Grand Prix at age 20, said in 2018: “It's a well-paid job. It's one of the best jobs I ever had. You dress glamorously and obviously it’s about being presentable but I never felt I was taken advantage of.”
Brook also posted on social media: “FlashBack as Formula One Grid Girl #KeeptheGridGirls,” and blasted trolls for trying to take away grid girls’ rights to “make their own decisions”.
