Who was the first formula 1 hostess? the japanese Rosa Ogawa

The competition has decided to settle forever the polemic "umbrellas"

Formula 1 will dispense with the exuberant stewardesses. But since when was his usual presence on the racetrack? It was in 1962 when the Tokyo Grand Prix organisers hired Japanese model Rosa Ogawa to make her image appear on the posters, and to photograph her with runners and dazzle the competition's attendees. Officially, she was the first grid girl and, after that experience, she began a brief career as a singer.

But it was in 1976 when Marlboro, who was one of the sponsors of the East US Grand Prix at the Watkins Glen circuit in New York, decided to introduce a team of several stewardesses. In the photo on the right we see one of those girls with the British pilot James Hunt, during that competition. The idea was copied by other brands, and grid girls were already a regular presence in all competitions.

But times have changed a lot since then, and the organizers and promoters of Formula 1 have finally tuned in to the feeling of a society that increasingly considers it sexist and demeaning for some women to have to work by displaying themselves as ornaments.