Hamilton under fire from Object for champagne spraying a podium girl in China (VIDEO)

13 Comments

With grid girls a topic of conversation earlier this month and with the FIA World Endurance Championship opting to remove them heading into the 2015 season, it seems interesting that now podium girls are a topic emerging in the wake of last week’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton won the race and did, like nearly any Grand Prix winner would do, spray the champagne on the podium post-race.

At one point he sprayed a podium girl in the face, and that has led to an uproar from Object – a campaign against sexism and “sex object culture” – in the wake of Hamilton’s spraying direction.

“If this if the case we think Lewis Hamilton should apologize for his actions and think carefully about how he behaves in the future. For most people, it would be apparent that she is not enjoying it,” Roz Hardie, Object CEO, told the UK’s Daily Mail.

“It is surely a very difficult position to be a grid girl and she would have had little option but to stand there and take it. That is something of which he should be aware. But instead, he appears to have abused her position.

“It’s unfortunate that a great victory has been marred by what appears to be selfish and inconsiderate behavior.”

The podium girl, Liu Siying, a 23-year-old Shanghai Institute of Visual Art graduate, actually didn’t mind the spraying.

“It lasted for only one or two seconds, and I did not think too much about it at all,” Liu said, via Sina sport.

Yes, this isn’t the best direction for Hamilton to be spraying the champagne.

However, shouldn’t the question be more regarding the point of podium girls being there to begin with, considering their presence would also mark them as “sex objects?” Food for thought…

Alas, the video above shows the still photos as shown during Yahoo Sports’ Mad Dash. The Hamilton portion runs from the start of the video through the first 44 seconds.

IndyCar Power Rankings: Pato O’Ward moves to the top entering Texas Motor Speedway

0 Comments

The NBC Sports IndyCar power rankings naturally were as jumbled as the action on the streets of St. Petersburg after a chaotic opener to the 2023 season.

Pato O’Ward, who finished second because of an engine blip that cost him the lead with a few laps remaining, moves into the top spot ahead of St. Pete winner Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. Scott Dixon and St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who led 31 laps) rounded out the top five.

St. Pete pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (who started first at St. Pete after capturing his second career pole position) Callum Ilott (a career-best fifth) and Graham Rahal entered the power rankings entering the season’s second race.

Three drivers fell out of the preseason top 10 after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – including previously top-ranked Josef Newgarden, who finished 17th after qualifying 14th.

Heading into Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, here’s NBC Sports’ assessment of the current top 10 drivers through the first of 17 races this year (with previous preseason rankings in parenthesis):


NBC Sports’ IndyCar Power Rankings

1. Pato O’Ward (5) – If not for the dreaded “plenum event” in the No. 5 Chevrolet, the Arrow McLaren driver is opening the season with a victory capping a strong race weekend.

2. Marcus Ericsson (7) – He might be the most opportunistic driver in IndyCar, but that’s because the 2022 Indy 500 winner has become one of the series’ fastest and most consistent stars.

3. Alexander Rossi (10) – He overcame a frustrating Friday and mediocre qualifying to open his Arrow McLaren career with the sort of hard-earned top five missing in his last years at Andretti.

4. Scott Dixon (3) – Put aside his opening-lap skirmish with former teammate Felix Rosenqvist, and it was a typically stealthily good result for the six-time champion.

5. Romain Grosjean (NR) – The St. Petersburg pole-sitter consistently was fastest on the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of the race weekend, which he couldn’t say once last year.

6. Scott McLaughlin (6) – Easily the best of the Team Penske drivers before his crash with Grosjean, McLaughlin drove like a legitimate 2023 championship contender.

7. Callum Ilott (NR) – A quietly impressive top five for the confident Brit in Juncos Hollinger Racing’s first race as a two-car team. Texas will be a big oval litmus test.

8. Graham Rahal (NR) – Sixth at St. Pete, Rahal still has the goods on street courses, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan remains headed in the right direction.

9. Alex Palou (4) – He seemed a step behind Ericsson and Dixon in the race after just missing the Fast Six in qualifying, but this was a solid start for Palou.

10. Will Power (2) – An uncharacteristic mistake that crashed Colton Herta put a blemish on the type of steady weekend that helped him win the 2022 title.

Falling out (last week): Josef Newgarden (1), Colton Herta (8), Christian Lundgaard (9)