Ex-grid lady and Page 3 mannequin reveals what it was actually like behind-the-scenes at F1

A former F1 grid girl has opened up about what it was really like being involved in the sport. And put to bed the gossip around the partying lifestyle.

Former glamour model and Page 3 star Leilani Dowding appeared on the F1 grid multiple times, brushing shoulders with some of the biggest stars in the sport in the early 2000s.

Leilani has very happy memories of her time as a grid girl and recently posted a throwback image of her on the grid at Silverstone in 2001 in an iconic Hot Wheels outfit. Since the removal of the girls in 2018, Leilani has been incredibly outspoken against the ban.

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The 46-year-old has incredibly happy memories from her time within the F1 circus and revealed what really goes on behind-the-scenes.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, via OLBG, Leilani admitted that it wasn’t quite a Rock ‘n’ Roll as people think: “I think everyone was really professional, so you never spoke to the drivers, you never distracted the drivers or their teams, everything was really very professional.

“Also obviously the guys didn’t get where they got by getting distracted on the grid or anything like that.

“But it was just really, really fun to do, it was a well-paid job when you’re 18, 19 years old, like super well paid job and it’s so fun, and a real social thing with the other grid girls as well.”

Despite being within touching distance of the drivers, Leilani said the role of the grid girls was completely separate to the workings of mechanics and drivers before the race.

“Everything was really separate. You just were told you must not distract anyone, only speak to the people working there if they speak to you. You’re not meant to go and distract anyone, the mechanics or the team or anyone that are meant to be doing anything.

“I think by the time the races were done, everyone was just so exhausted, it was all packing up.

“It was either like the excitement that they were in and the team were in if they won, that they went off and did their thing. And obviously if they didn’t do well, there was disappointment, so there was no real time where anyone got together or celebrated.

“It was all actually quite boring in that respect, there was no huge parties with the grid girls or anything like that, it was all kept very, very, very professional.”

The accommodation the girls would stay in also didn’t match the luxury hotels the drivers would find themselves in: “So we would get there on a Friday or a Saturday and we would sleep there the night before and they’d have like these this big container, like one of those like transport containers but it would have beds in.

“There was like 20 or 30, but then we’d all sleep in this kind of like bunks in this little caravan thing. Then we’d get up the next day and they’d want us to all be there first thing.

“We’d go down to the grid before anything happened really early and we’d figure out which spots we’re going to stand in. I don’t know how we were allocated positions actually, it was like ‘you’re going stand there, you’re going to stand there, you’re going to stand there.’

“We just kind of walked out into our positions and just stood there until we had to move out of the way.

“Some people would be like right let’s just go home now and get out before the traffic because to some people it was just work – get the money and get out before everyone else tried to get out.

“But some of us would stay back and I would watch as much of the race as I could because we were there and we didn’t have to pay for a ticket. I could just watch it all, enjoy it and take it in.