Lewis Hamilton sprays champagne toward gril girl Liu Siying after winning the F1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. -- AFP

A Shanghai F1 grid girl said she was not feeling offended after Lewis Hamilton sprayed champagne toward her at the awarding ceremony of F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver’s way of celebration after winning the race at Shanghai International Circuit last Sunday had been put under discussion by some foreign media.

UK based Daily Mail carried an article on their website titled “What a loser: Ungallant F1 ace Lewis Hamilton under fire for spraying helpless Hostess in the face with champagne after winning Chinese Grand Prix.”

The grid girl, Liu Siying, a 23-year-old who graduated from Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, told Shanghai Daily in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that she actually did not mind having been sprayed by the Briton.

“It lasted for only one or two seconds, and I did not think too much about it at all,” Liu said.

Liu works for the administrative department of a local real estate company. She is a fan of Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen, and therefore applied to become the podium model of last weekend’s event.

“I think some foreign media are more sensitive about the topic compared to local media,” Liu said. “I was just told by my employer to stand on the podium, and that’s what I did.”

Liu posted screen capture of some media’s reports over the issue on her personal weibo.com account at Tuesday midnight, saying “I can’t control other people’s behavior when I’m working. I hope the public don’t have the incident tangled and affect my personal life.”

Australian based Business Insider carried an article on Tuesday, saying “Drivers have been spraying each other and their crews with champagne for Nearly 50 years, but any others soaked by the tradition are collateral damage. Hamilton’s targeting of women in a highly masculinised sport is seen as a step too far, especially against people powerless to take control of the situation.”