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nathalie jansen<br />
NATHALIE JANSEN<br />
The girls<br />
behind<br />
the girls<br />
Glamorous grid girls have become as<br />
synonymous with F1 as the cars themselves.<br />
Nathalie Jansen, founder of the casting agency<br />
to Formula One Matching Models, reveals all<br />
Photography Alastair Pullen and Matching Models<br />
Everywhere you look on race days you will find the pit lane<br />
lined with beautiful models. Choosing the right models to<br />
assist on the grid lies in the hands of myself and colleagues<br />
Rachael Howard (who is also Miss UK) and Liza Junele,<br />
who help me behind the scenes at grand prix events.<br />
The agency started by chance in 1997. I was working as<br />
a diamond dealer in London and went to an exhibition<br />
showcasing my jewellery. The hostess for the event didn’t<br />
show up so I pulled a few friends together who happened to<br />
be models and with their help the evening turned out to be<br />
a great success.<br />
Following on from that I was asked to help at another<br />
event, and so my business was born. It was not something<br />
I had ever planned or thought about doing, but the more I<br />
researched the idea the more I was excited by the challenge.<br />
Now we have offices based in Switzerland and London, and<br />
15 years on I can say it has been an incredibly exciting journey.<br />
I have always enjoyed racing and Formula One for the reasons that<br />
most people love the sport – the cars, the glamour and the excitement. I<br />
started working with Total who were an F1 sponsor and their owners, and<br />
then we just evolved and moved onwards from there.<br />
Once you are in the sport it is addictive. As a sport there is nothing like<br />
F1. I never get bored with it, and it is all the more enjoyable when you<br />
have friends in the sport too. From a business perspective it is impressive<br />
to witness the evolution and expansion of the sport as it continues to<br />
grow to even more countries. It provides a great business platform for<br />
<br />
44 FORMULA FORMULA 45
nathalie jansen<br />
Celebrity socialite<br />
Paris Hilton fits in with<br />
girls on the grid<br />
Nathalie Jansen (centre) with<br />
her colleagues Liza Junele<br />
(left) and Rachael Howard<br />
the teams and the sponsors and for companies like<br />
mine to work, and it keeps on going from strength<br />
to strength.<br />
BIG BUSINESS<br />
F1 is a global sport and you never know where or<br />
when you might do business. I once stopped for a<br />
coffee at The Manderin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge<br />
and started talking with an Indian businessman<br />
at the bar. When I explained to him that I<br />
owned an employment agency staffing models for<br />
Formula One he told me that he “owned Formula<br />
One in India”. Assuming that he was joking, I left<br />
him my business card not really expecting to hear<br />
from him again.<br />
The next day I checked the internet and<br />
indeed Mr Sameer Gaur from Jaypee Group had<br />
constructed the F1 racetrack and brought Formula<br />
One to India – as it turns out he was in London to<br />
visit Mr Ecclestone for a meeting.<br />
I received a request the following week from<br />
him to bring a group of 20 models to India to not<br />
only assist at the track with the sales of tickets, but<br />
also to help organise the Lady Gaga concert at the<br />
grand prix after party. She really is a mega star<br />
and watching her perform live was amazing. There<br />
are so many memorable experiences from being<br />
involved in F1, but meeting her has to be up there<br />
with the best.<br />
However, that event was not without its<br />
drama. After flying 20 models and a team of five<br />
coordinators to India to work alongside Arjun<br />
Rampal (one of the best known Bollywood actors<br />
in India), we had 400 people crammed into a VIP<br />
area designed for 50 people. It was a basketball<br />
hall converted into a concert hall, so we were all<br />
nervous about it collapsing.<br />
The event itself was fine in the end, but<br />
afterward the models were the last to leave and<br />
with the location being 30 minutes away from the<br />
“IT IS<br />
IMPRESSIVE<br />
TO WITNESS<br />
THE<br />
EXPANSION<br />
OF THE<br />
SPORT<br />
TO MORE<br />
COUNTRIES”<br />
<br />
46 FORMULA FORMULA 47
nathalie jansen<br />
Liza Junele works in front<br />
of the camera as well as<br />
behind the scenes<br />
hotel and no taxis left, we were stuck in what is<br />
a pretty dangerous area of India to be at night as<br />
woman.<br />
Then, on the side of the road stood Fernando<br />
Alonso, his manager and also Rubens Barichello.<br />
It was 4am on a Sunday, but we all decided to<br />
walk back to the hotel together, singing Spanish<br />
songs while the sun was coming up in the streets<br />
of India. It was a pretty special moment for all of<br />
us.<br />
JET-SETTING<br />
After another similar event, one of the team owners<br />
was so happy with our services working at the<br />
track for him that we were approached to come to<br />
his 30-bedroom, £15 million residence in London<br />
and organise a casting to find him a PA. We had<br />
another casting in our Kings Road office that day<br />
to select a group of grid girls for the Force India<br />
team, so we sent all of the models over after the<br />
casting to his absolutely mind-blowing residential<br />
apartment in the centre of London.<br />
At the end the team owner personally<br />
interviewed a group of blonde models to work as<br />
personal flight attendants on one of his private<br />
767 jets. The models have all relocated to his<br />
country and are still working for him now.<br />
Over the years we have worked with a number<br />
of teams from Force India, F1 Renault and<br />
Marussia to Pirelli the tyre manufacturers.<br />
Pirelli are particularly fun to work with as they<br />
are Italians, and like all good Italians, they love<br />
food. Whenever we go to visit them we are always<br />
offered too much.<br />
One of the great things about the sport is that<br />
it is so intimate you get to know the people and<br />
“we sang<br />
spanish<br />
songs<br />
with<br />
alonso<br />
and<br />
barichello;<br />
it was a<br />
pretty<br />
special<br />
moment”<br />
<br />
FORMULA 49
nathalie jansen<br />
“we have enjoyed<br />
working with bruno<br />
senna and paul di<br />
resta. senna is one of<br />
our favourite drivers”<br />
drivers you work with well, especially the ones<br />
that like to go out after race weekend. We have<br />
enjoyed working with the likes of Bruno Senna,<br />
Paul Di Resta and Jules Bianchi in recent years,<br />
and all the team owners are so kind, it is like<br />
one big family.<br />
SELECT FEW<br />
We were once in Shanghai and Sony<br />
Production were filming our team of models<br />
who were being selected as grid girls, so we<br />
asked the then Lotus Renault team if they could<br />
form a judging panel to help with the casting.<br />
Bruno Senna kindly agreed to be part of<br />
the panel. While Bruno was discussing the<br />
contestants performing he forgot that his<br />
microphone was on and unbeknown to him<br />
all the film crew and myself could hear all of<br />
his comments. We cherish this tape in our<br />
office and always play it when we want to have<br />
a good laugh – I know I can say that because<br />
Grid girls on film<br />
<br />
Cap<br />
One<br />
and<br />
50 FORMULA FORMULA 51
nathalie jansen<br />
Rowan Atkinson<br />
with Jansen’s<br />
Matching Models<br />
“the standout venue<br />
has to be monaco.<br />
the models work at<br />
all the parties and<br />
on different yachts”<br />
Senna is a good friend and he won’t mind me<br />
saying that. He has become one of our favourite<br />
drivers ever since.<br />
BEAUTIFUL HAPPY PEOPLE<br />
There are so many beautiful cities on the F1<br />
calendar it is hard to choose my favourite. I like<br />
India because we have so many clients there<br />
and I know most people at the track and in hospitality,<br />
so going there is like coming home.<br />
That aside, the standout venue has to be<br />
Monaco. The layout of the circuit in the city<br />
centre lends itself to a special atmosphere. Our<br />
models work at all the parties and we have hostesses<br />
working on different yachts of F1 sponsors<br />
in the harbour. All in all it is normally a<br />
hectic weekend but always fun and it’s a great<br />
environment in which to catch up with clients. I<br />
think I have to be one of the luckiest people out<br />
there, working with happy people in beautiful<br />
surroundings worldwide.<br />
Caption here<br />
cap tion please<br />
here caption he<br />
FORMULA 53