Vettel 'sad' to see F1 without grid girls

Sebastian Vettel says it is "sad" that grid girls will not feature in Formula 1 in 2018. The Ferrari man won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which was the first to include 'grid kids' and start at 10 minutes past the hour - another source of confusion for the German.

Liberty Media's decision to ditch 'grid girls' in favour of 'grid kids' for 2018 was met with a mixed reception.

Though Liberty said that the move was made to "reflect societal changes", others - including former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone - railed against a decision which they believed struck to the heart of the sport's glamorous traditions.

Races in 2018 will begin at 10 minutes past the hour to accommodate television stations, who would previously join the action just as the race was beginning.

And Vettel says it is a shame to see the sport's traditions being taken away, although he is happy that the driving experience is relatively unchanged.

"I think I'm a traditionalist and I like to hold on to certain things," Vettel said. "There's a lot of things I'm not a specialist in and I don't need to understand.

"I'm confused why the races start later, a bit sad that there are no more grid girls but other than that not many changes yet. From a driving point of view there's obviously not that much that has changed."

Vettel's distaste at grid girls' departure is little surprise, given his reaction to the one-off introduction of 'grid boys' at the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix.

After finishing second in Monte Carlo behind Nico Rosberg, Vettel said: "Why didn't we have any grid girls today What was that? F***!

"You get there and park behind George or Dave. What's the point?"