Hamilton, Norris and co make history for all the wrong reasons in Abu Dhabi

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For the first time since 1952, an F1 season has gone by without the British national anthem playing during the podium ceremony. Instead, fans became extremely familiar with the Dutch and Austrian anthems as Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominated the 2023 campaign.

Under the current podium ceremony proceedings, the national anthem of the winning driver’s country is played, followed by the anthem of the winning constructor’s country. With Verstappen taking victory at 19 of the 22 Grands Prix in 2023, only five different anthems have played on the podium this year.

Sergio Perez did manage to take two wins away from his Red Bull team-mate during the opening four rounds of the campaign meaning the Mexican national anthem was played on two occasions, while Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore ensured that the Spanish anthem also made an appearance.

That was also the only race at which the Austrian national anthem wasn’t played with the Tifosi able to watch on as the Italian anthem blasted from the podium at the Marina Bay street circuit. 

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There was, however, no representation for the British national anthem. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris all finished on the podium on multiple occasions, but never on the top step.

British F1 fans would have at least been able to hear their anthem played from the rostrum if Aston Martin, McLaren or Williams had managed to claim wins this season. Unfortunately, Oscar Piastri’s sprint victory in Qatar didn’t come with a full podium ceremony, meaning the whole season passed by without an appearance from the iconic melody.

While Hamilton will hope that he and Mercedes can put an end to this wait in 2024, the seven-time world champion wasn’t feeling optimistic after the season finale at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.

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When asked by Sky Sports F1 what he had learned from a testing 2023 season, Hamilton replied: “Not too much. It’s not been a great year in general. The fact I survived it. Probably that’s about it.”

This was followed up by a question about Mercedes’ title hopes for 2024, to which he replied: “At this moment, I don’t really know. For Red Bull to win by 17 seconds and they haven’t developed their car since August is definitely a concern. 

“We have learned a lot about the car and it’s just down to the team now. They know what they need to do. Whether or not we will get there, we will see.”

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