OK, one roundabout, but as it's in Monaco, we'll let them off on that one.
Yes, Red Bull Racing, Formula One constructor's champions, are based in the south of my fair city, in a large factory (with obligatory "NOTICE US" scarlet bovine paint job). And yet they decide to be registered to Austria, meaning it's not God Save The Queen, but Land Der Berge that play's after the driver's national anthem - a Teutonic double-whammy if Vettel wins.
And yet...it gets me hankering for old days.
You see, it never used to be so damned corporate. Back in 1997, Paul Stewart and his father John (or "Jackie", as everyone insists on calling him. It's a Scottish thing) entered the world of Formula One. They got Ford as a works engine supplier, HSBC as a title sponsor - hell, they even got Rubens Barrichello as lead driver. The car, with its clean white lines and understated tartan motif looked the part, and was on a par with the Benettons in terms of speed.
It had just one tiny problem: it was as fragile as a porcelain kitten.
Chances are, when you saw a Stewart overtaking someone, you'd see it belching smoke and flames within five laps.
And yet, we cheered on Jackie's boys, willing them to do well, buoyed by a single podium in Monte Carlo in 1997. Even the realisation Jan Magnussen drives like your nan, that Jos Verstappen drives like the walking ATM that he is, that there is seemingly no limit to the ways that tiny screws and rubber O-rings can really screw up a V10 engine, we held hope.
And then, one wet day in Autumn 1999, Johnny Herbert went and won us a Grand Prix.
About two weeks after Jackie Stewart sold the team to Ford.
In the words of James May: "Oh, cock."
The team may be based in MK, but for a company that's practically Austrian-in-secret, playing 'Land der Berge, Land am Strome' is one of the few nationalistic prides they allow themselves.
ReplyDeleteWith so many Brits obviously in and around the F1 paddock, it's probably a little presumptuous to assume that little things like 'where the car is built' matter in the grand scheme of things. We get our flag waved enough by F1 around the world, surely, or is it just MK's that you need waving?
Milton Keynes get an inordinate amount of stick, so yes, I'm proud of our achievements. Or flag is crappy though; just the coat of arms on a white background :P
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