This is Formula 1 and these are its grid girls.

Seven weeks before the world’s most popular motorsport returns for a new season, F1 confirmed we had seen the last of women walking out with numbered poles to mark race positions. The grid girls are gone.

For some, it was long overdue and there has been incredulity that the decision hadn’t been made sooner. But for others, it was yet another world’s-gone-mad move designed to appease the politically correct. Within the echelons of the F1 community – from drivers and team principles to long-standing fans and the next generation of grand prix goers – everyone has an opinion.

A simple search on social media reveals the polarised pool of views on the choice to stop using walk-on grid girls across entire F1 weekends, including all support series, starting with the 2018 season in March. For every tweet claiming grid girls are an obsolete aspect of motorsport, there are plenty pondering “what’s the harm” – these are girls who choose to do the job, right?

Absolutely. Grid girls are models and they get paid for what they do, just like anyone else. These are women on the books of agencies offering grid girls, trophy girls, ring girls, promo girls and hostesses, complete with bespoke outfits, if you need it. It is legitimate work and not to be sniffed at – it’s a career and livelihood for many and what keeps roofs over heads and food on the table.

The pure and simple fact remains that the decision is putting women out of work – at least for a weekend. It would be wrong not to sympathise, knowing that of course there are women all over the world who will lose out on a pay cheque because they no longer fit in F1’s grand brand overhaul.

Several models who work as grid girls have voiced their disappointment on the issue, branding it “disgusting”, “ridiculous” and “devastating” on social media.

Ironically, by ditching grid girls, F1 has drastically reduced the number of women employed as part of any given grand prix. The amount of airtime set aside for women each race weekend by Formula One Management – the company controlling the F1 world television feed – will also be reduced. All this in an industry where women are already woefully underrepresented in every aspect.

But should we lament the loss of a sporadic work for the few in an attempt to benefit the many?

F1 is the world’s most lucrative travelling circus, annually pulling in between 600 million and 400 million viewers worldwide over the last decade. The majority of those hundreds of millions watching will inevitably be men – female fans of motorsport seem to be few and far between, but they are there.

A strange concept to some is that little girls will be sitting down on March 25 with their family to watch F1 roar back into Melbourne’s Albert Park for the first race of the season. A few races as a child turns into watching full seasons as a teenager and eventually fulfilling the dream of paying for their own grand prix ticket as a young adult. Something that is true for boys and girls alike.

Children dream of being racing drivers, regardless of gender, and nothing can stop them until the realities of equality sink in when they grow up and eventually drift into different “societal norms”, as F1’s commercial operations manager put it. Girls shouldn’t be put off from pursuing what they want, but watching women side-lined weekend after weekend to hand out Pirelli caps and offer microphones is hardly the same as seeing them attempting overtakes up Spa’s infamous Eau Rouge or scrapping with a teammate for precious points at the end of the season.

The motives behind calling time of grid girls could be for any number of reasons – because of commercial pressure, bad press or a genuinely-held beliefs. But F1 has sent a message to the world that women are better than lining a corridor and offering an awkward round of applause for the top three drivers making their way to the podium.

Women are worth more.

After more than half a century in F1, it is almost bizarre to realise that the next generation of female F1 fans won’t see their counterparts wearing short dresses or tight tops on the grid. They’ll be wearing team uniform like everyone else, doing the same jobs as everyone else and taking career opportunities traditionally not enjoyed by women.

This is change and this is hope. Who knows, one day girls on the F1 grid might even be wearing racing suits.