Former F1 grid girl Leilani Dowding wants Sydney Sweeney to bring the models back ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix

English model and former F1 grid girl Leilani Dowding has long been a supporter of bringing the models back to the Formula 1 racetrack, and ahead of next week's Las Vegas Grand Prix she says she wants actress Sydney Sweeney to lead the way.

The models were removed from the sport prior to the 2018 season. It was argued at the time that the models no longer aligned with its brand values. Dowding says she has never understood the move, disagreed with the decision then and still does.

She was in Los Angeles when the news broke and found out about it in the papers. 'I thought it was crazy. I remember thinking, "what is going on?" It was always really welcoming,' she told GrandPrix247 in a recent interview.

'The only people who would say stupid things, such as that we were being objectified, were people who weren't involved and had never spoken to us. They were looking in from the outside,' she said.

Dowding thinks the time for grid girls to return to Formula 1 is now. The modern, more entertainment-focused approach, especially at next week's Las Vegas Grand Prix, would be a natural fit, she says.

She has an A-list actress in mind to lead the way: Sydney Sweeney. 'Sydney Sweeney would make a fantastic grid girl. I'd love to see her doing it for the Las Vegas GP, she'd be one of my favorites. She should get her boots on and get on that grid,' Dowding said.

'I think she'd be wonderful. She'd make so many people angry, especially because you can just imagine them raging, with steam coming out of their heads,' she said.

The 46-year-old model does not just want to see grid girls back in F1. She wants to take what the sport is already doing with celebrities and entertainment before the green flag and put it on a much bigger scale.