1 week Ago By Keith Collantine
Liam Lawson is not happy the British national anthem rings out whenever McLaren wins out. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free McLaren was founded by Bruce McLaren in 1963 and entered F1 three years later. But while its founder, like Lawson, is a New Zealander, the team is based in the UK and its victories are celebrated with the British national anthem.
“Red Bull play the Austrian national anthem and the team’s based in the UK,” Lawson continued. “McLaren is based in the UK, but it’s a New Zealand team.” Lawson derided McLaren’s choice of anthem “It’s completely bullshit is what it is, honestly,” he concluded.
“Especially if you’re from New Zealand. Because Bruce McLaren is an absolute legend.” Lawson is of course right that Red Bull, based in Milton Keynes founded and funded by an Austrian, marks its victories with renditions of Bundeshymne der Republik Österreich .
Except, that is, their breakthrough victory at Shanghai in 2009, where the British anthem was erroneously performed. But some teams continue to prioritise location over ownership. For an example of that, Lawson should look no further than his own team.
RB is also owned by Red Bull, but principally based in Faenza in Italy, and marked its most recent win in 2020 (when it was called AlphaTauri) with Il Canto degli Italiani . Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free It’s not unheard of for teams to change which anthem they prefer. After Italian fashion brand Benetton took over the British Toleman team in 1986, they marked their first victory later that year with the British national anthem, on the instruction of none other than Luciano Benetton himself.
They later switched to using the Italian anthem. The ‘wrong’ anthem was performed when Red Bull first won But there is no hard-and-fast rule to which is ‘correct’. Lawson could just as well argue that, given the ownership structure of McLaren, the appropriate anthem to perform would be a mash-up composing two-thirds of the national anthem of Bahrain and one-third America’s Star-Spangled Banner, in deference to Mumtalakat and MSP Sports Capital respectively.
Bruce McLaren was no doubt proud to represent his country as the first beneficiary of its ‘Driver to Europe’ scheme, which he won in 1958. But when he became a constructor five years later he didn’t call it ‘Team New Zealand’ in the same way Enzo Ferrari didn’t call his ‘Team Italy’ and Jack Brabham didn’t call his ‘Team Australia’. Frank Williams’ outfit wasn’t called ‘Team Britain’ and you could hardly accuse him of being unpatriotic.
Once, when executives of German engine manufacturer BMW showed up to ink an engine deal at his factory, he arranged for a friend to fly over in a World War Two-era Spitfire fighter aeroplane. In the early years of the world championship, teams were tightly bound to national identities. British teams raced in green, Italian in red and so on.
In those days F1 teams could be thought of as comparable to national football squads. But those days are long gone. National colours are gone, replaced by sponsors.
Today F1 teams are more like club squads. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Manchester City may not have moved geographically but their income and players are drawn from far beyond the borders of their homeland. Those who still regard F1 teams as national entities rather than corporate ones are being unrealistic.
So Lawson isn’t entirely wrong: It doesn’t make sense for McLaren, based in Britain spending Bahraini and US money, headed up by an American and an Italian, powered by German engines and staffed by employees of many nations, to mark their victories by playing ‘God Save the King’. Or, for that matter, any other country’s anthem. Better, then, to do away with playing anthems for constructors entirely.
While they’re at it, spare us the pointless pre-race anthem performance, foisted upon F1 a decade ago as a sop to Vladimir Putin, which drivers are still forced to attend on pain of penalty. Alternatively, select a song which encapsulates the essential attitude of all national anthems which can be performed whichever team wins. Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner’s national anthem of Cave 76 would suffice.
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