#sorry anon you picked the wrong inbox if you didn’t want deranged rambling 😭😭

[slythereen]

Idk maybe i'm late to the discussion but from what i heard from people around me, people are mad at cheerleaders being there because (and this is not me hating on it i know it's an american thing) f1 is being americanized and that that is not necessarily a good thing for the sport (i'm not talking about the money thing, but about the fact that the focus should be on the racing and everything else is unnecessary? Like ive had (older generation) people tell me that even this whole music act thing (and the circus) is unnecessary? Like it's not a festival, it's not supposed to be coachella, people tune in for the race and the drivers)

not to worry the discussion was just me commentating into the void !!

but yes, that does seem like part of it. mainly i was seeing people upset by the sexism of it all (& “stepping backwards” after finally getting rid of grid girls and trying to boost f1 academy) which is what my original commentary was about. personally i don’t see cheerleaders as the pinnacle of misogyny (likely because i am used of american sports), which is why i have always been a bit confused about the outrage that got grid girls banned. same thing in my mind… though i guess, culturally, grid girls may have been treated differently than cheerleaders based exactly on that distinction. idk.

anyway: the “americanization” of f1 does seem to be a giant point of contention. i agree watching the podium placers walk out between the cheerleader lines was slightly hysterical because they looked so confused and it was just… excessive. i liked the pre-race show appearance, would have been happy to see them still doing some cheering near the podium, but the walk-out style a la miami being replicated here was A Bit Much.

i just don’t know how much this can really be blamed on american fans per se and how much it needs to be taken up with liberty media/f1… they seem to be driving the “entertainment” push & the american gps are giving them what they asked for and being actively encouraged (i believe) to go all out and “american” with it. in theory it’s kind of a genius PR move by f1/liberty because it means they can get the circus they want and tap into american viewership while simultaneously shifting the blame onto american fans/gps when/if things go over poorly abroad.

all that to say is i’m interested to see how this shakes out with next year’s calendar and the potential waning of american interest if the “mainstream” fans push to reduce american involvement. like, is liberty still going to try to push gp hosts to amp up the craziness anyway? will they abandon the project and just pass it off as a failed american experiment? are we going to see it backfire for f1 and see a migration from all the new american fans being pushed to indycar and nascar instead, since those are already “ours” (quote unquote) and more receptive to new viewership? inquiring minds (me) want to know