Here’s a photo you can file under ‘B’ for bullshit. Below is a picture pulled from the F1.com website with the caption, ” Race fans arrive ahead of the Grand Prix.” Perhaps things are different in Australia. I had no idea that stilettos were common footwear for climbing 12 story high bleachers or that the team’s were now offering designer dresses to fans instead of T-shirts and baseball caps. Italia beware - Australia looks set to be the new fashion capital of the world.

Seriously though, does Bernie Ecclestone really expect the world to believe that these women are representative of F1 fans? He might have more success convincing me if he hired someone to use Photoshop to remove the VIP passes they’re wearing from the photo. For those who have never seen one, a paddock pass gets you just about anywhere, no questions asked and I’m sure the idea of one in the hands of the great unwashed keeps Bernie awake at night.

I’ll bet a round of beers that none of those women even paid for their passes. Unlike you and I, they didn’t fork over hundreds of dollars for the privilege of sitting in bleachers under the hot sun and paying four times the going price for a beer. I’ll even bet another round that they can’t name half the drivers even though they probably had their photos taken with most of them on the grid. It kills me.

Maybe if someone out there knows Bernie personally, they can ask him, “What’s so wrong with real F1 fans that you can’t put their photos on your website?” Does excitement and passion not photograph well?

Maybe we’re not Bernie’s kind of people. Lucky for us, we just happen to have his kind of money.

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