Spain's Madrid Grand Prix: anthem, jets and a public bill

The Madring anthem and the party bill

Three Eurofighters over the circuit, the King in the stands and the Marcha Real played by a symphonic choir. The scene left by the Madrid Grand Prix—the Madring—was powerful, and the Spanish anthem sounded again in a context where emotion and accounting coexist. Because an event presented as private mobilizes public money, military aircraft and a head of state. That's where the problem begins.

The anthem without lyrics and the choir singing the 'lololo'

The detail that almost nobody disputes: Spain is the only country in the world whose national anthem has no lyrics. The Marcha Real is an 18th-century military march, heir to the grenadier march, and Spain was a pioneer—the first country to declare an official honor march for public events. Pioneers in officializing, last in singing. Hence the resort to a choir intoning the tune without text, a symphonic 'lololo' that premiered in this type of display.

The comparison with other anthems appears on its own: Germany uses a Haydn melody, and some put forward those of Uruguay, Guatemala or Japan. The curiosity that almost nobody mentions: the music of the Mexican anthem was composed by a Spaniard, Jaume Nunó, a native of Sant Joan de les Abadesses.

Private event, public money: where the knot is

Here the matter stops being musical and becomes accounting. The Madring is sold as a private spectacle, but the institutional deployment—presence of the head of state, military flyover, security apparatus—is not paid for by the organizer. There is talk of public contributions that would be around €320 million in the financial year and of auxiliary services awarded with little publicity, security among them. The question is uncomfortable: if the party is private, why is the acompañante covered with everyone's resources?

The counterargument is not weak: tourist return, international showcase and temporary employment would compensate the investment. But the return is promised and the bill is documented. It is the classic asymmetry of any major subsidized event.

Three fighter jets and a flag that did not appear

In the air, the controversy was technical. The aircraft were supposed to draw the Spanish flag with colored smoke and did not do so; from Defense it was pointed to a technical failure. The data worth retaining is another: the planes that draw flags in the sky are the C-101s of the Patrulla Águila. The Eurofighters that made the pass do not carry smoke generation systems. With those aircraft, the aerial flag was not a real option. And to generate colored smoke, fuel is needed, burned moreover over a low-emission zone.

The closing is given by the anthem itself: the country that was a world pioneer in officializing an honor march still has not put lyrics to it. Parades, fighter jets and choirs for a text that never arrives.