Formula One is set to hit Circuit Zandvoort this weekend as racing returns after nearly a month off.
Last time out, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez recorded an impressive one-two finish at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa, continuing their 2023 dominance which has shown no signs of letting up this term.
The Dutch racer also won his home Grand Prix last season too en route to winning his second World Championship crown. Since bursting onto the scene back in 2015, Verstappen, and Formula One's popularity has grown expontentially in the Netherlands.
However, there are some racing fans from the country who have in the past taken a up decisions made by the FIA, namely Dutch MP Roy van Aalst.
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Back in 2018, Formula One made the decision to scrap walk-on grid girls, in a move that divided opinion. Whilst the general consensus was the practice was outdated, there were plenty of vociferous opponents to the FIA's decision, one of which was van Aalst.
The following year, the Dutch MP said the decision to remove grid girls from the motorsport was a "form of female patronisation." Van Aalst said: "The decision that the FIA has taken is the umpteenth form of female patronisation.
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"Grid girls belong just as much to Formula 1 as the cars. Only one a huge idiot can see a beautiful woman as a problem. The rest of the people love it. It is a part of motorsport and the PVV wants us to ensure that next year this beautiful tradition will be restored to its former glory!"
So incensed by the decision was van Aalst, he even ran on a platform of reinstating grid girls, claiming his right-wing nationalist party, Party for Freedom (PVV) would ensure they returned to Zandvoort back in 2020.
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However, there were plenty who agreed with the FIA's decision too.
Following the decision the UK's Women's Sport Trust tweeted: "Thank you @F1 for deciding to stop using grid girls. Another sport making a clear choice about what they want to stand for."
