Grid girls back after bombshell 2018 ban
The term ‘grid girls’ may be a dirty word at the Grand Prix but that hasn’t stopped the yearly troop of models posing for endless photos with fans and drivers at Albert Park.
Fiona Byrne
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The term ‘grid girls’ is the equivalent to a dirty word at the Grand Prix in these more enlightened days, with the bombshells banned from F1 back in 2018.
But the yearly troop of models were among the stars of the Grand Prix show, posing for endless photos with fans and drivers and attending parties.
In the early noughties there was even a hugely promoted national search - the Foster’s Grid Girl competition.
Plenty of well-known women enjoyed the privileged pass to the Grand Prix action the role provided.
Among the names to have been part of the Australian Grand Prix’s grid girl history were Kate Neilson, Kylie Gulliver, Sarita Holland, Melissa Hetherington, Hayley Rich-Bracken, Mylissa Piva, Sarah Czarnuch, Lucy Brownless and Bella Geminder.
A flick through the photo library this week revealed a by-gone era of Grid Girl costumes and cheesy set up shots with F1 drivers and bigwigs at Albert Park.
Romantic gesture off the GP track
In a racy romantic gesture, Finnish F1 star Valtteri Bottas is wearing a helmet sporting iconic Aussie locations, animals and sayings designed by his Olympian girlfriend at this year’s Australian Grand Prix.
Bottas, the reigning Australian Grand Prix champion - he won the race when it was last run in 2019 - is dating Australia road cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, who recently represented her country at the Tokyo Olympics.
Cromwell is also a budding artist who has designed Bottas’s distinctive racing helmets on several occasions during their two year relationship.
Cromwell, who hails from Adelaide, is competing in a road race competition in Europe this weekend and can’t be with Bottas as he takes on the Albert Park circuit.
However, the flying Finn will have a piece of Cromwell with him as he pilots his Alfa Romeo in the Australian Grand Prix, wearing the specially designed helmet.
The helmet features a hat with corks, the saying ‘fair dinkum’, the Australian flag, the beach boxes at Brighton beach, a setting sun, the word ‘Straya,’ a great white shark, kangaroos, swimmers swimming between the flags and the phrase ‘bloody oath’.
“Sadly I can’t be at the Aus GP this weekend with @valterribottas as I have my own race in Europe. So I designed him a fun Aussie themed helmet for the weekend instead,” Cromwell wrote on social media.
Bottas was previously married to Emilia Pikkarainen, a swimmer who represented Finland in the Olympics.
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