Because it’ll allow promising young drivers the opportunity to get up close to the teams and the cars. How the hell is that demeaning?
You said why yourself in your original post - the women are there to be sexualised and objectified. To look pretty next to the men who are racing.
Now do you think the children are being used for the same reason?
They are there to advertise shit and look cute on TV.
If the teams want to give promising young drivers a chance to get up close to the cars and the teams, a peek behind the scenes, surely they can invite them into the garage or at their research facilities. Surely they do this already, no?
Why do they have Hollywood actors and sports stars wandering around the grid and in the garages - to give them a chance to look at how the teams work?! No - to look good on TV and add a bit of glamour.
Nice to see the important points of the sports are being debated
This is the typical F1. Forget engine part limits, grid penalties, chassis, halo, tyre compounds, drivers etc. It's all about grid girls and kid mascots
It's a niche sport as it is. Reduce it to Oxbridge engineering graduates hunched over laptops and wannabes at home speculating about aerodynamic tweaks and tyre compounds you'll lose 95% of the audience.