Former F1 grid girl Leilani Dowding has said she would love to see Sydney Sweeney flaunt her looks at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, predicting the Hollywood actress would leave many people furious.
Dowding, who appeared on the F1 grid several times in the early 2000s as a glamour model and Page 3 star, has been outspoken against the banning of models on the grid. She has now made a playful jibe at those who advocated for their exclusion by tipping Sweeney to take on the role.
Backing for Sweeney at Sin City
The 29-year-old actress previously caused outrage among fans and sports stars, who argued she was sexualising women in sport when she appeared naked in a sports betting advert.
Speaking to OLBG, Dowding backed her to stir the pot again at the Las Vegas race weekend: “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 favourites.
“She should get her boots on and get on that grid. 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.”
Defending Grid Girls
Dowding, now 46, spoke exclusively to the Daily Star Sport about her time as a grid girl and hit out at 'jealous' people who complained about their presence, which eventually saw them dropped from the sport in 2018.
She said: “I think it's fun because there's a little bit of glamour and a little bit of fun. And I think it was a real virtue signal of F1 to do it. I don't think there was any need to.
“If you spoke to any of the girls, no one would say they felt objectified, no one would feel or say they felt exploited.
“We absolutely loved what we were doing, we loved our job, we were using the money from doing grids, not just F1, because obviously if you did F1, you got to do a lot of other grids as well for other motorsports.
“So by doing that it was a load of the girl's income. I just think they're missing the fun and like a bit of humour.”
Criticism of Complainants
Dowling then turned to slam those who took the opportunity away: “Whoever complains probably isn't even an F1 but, it was just a bunch of miserable, jealous people sat on their sofa, who probably had absolutely nothing to do with F1.
“They probably don’t even watch it, but just felt they wanted to complain about some pretty women getting a job that paid well that they couldn't do.
“And to me it's just so hypocritical considering what kids can see on their phones now, and then the same people or the same voices that were so loud about banning grid girls, are now very silent about what kids can access on their phones.
“In terms of just filth and graphic things and just utter filth on their phone. And you know the grid girls were fully dressed. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it.”
