Hulme, McLaren and the Hāngī

New Zealand has never hosted a World Championship round, yet it produced a world champion and other Grand Prix winners, and its food joins Māori and settler traditions.

New Zealand has never staged a World Championship Grand Prix, but its drivers made their mark a long way from home. Denny Hulme is the country's champion, with the 1967 title and eight Grand Prix wins from 112 starts between 1965 and 1974. Bruce McLaren won four races from 100 starts in a career that ran from 1958 to 1970.

Chris Amon made 96 starts from 1963 to 1976 with a best finish of second, and our records also list his own team, Chris Amon Racing. Howden Ganley made 35 starts and Brendon Hartley 25. Today Liam Lawson carries the line forward, with 50 starts so far since 2023.

New Zealand cooking grows from two main roots, Māori and British, and from the produce of an island nation that lives by farming and the sea. The Māori arrived from tropical Polynesia with plants such as kūmara, which became a staple because it kept through the cold months. They cooked in earth ovens called hāngī: stones heated in a fire, packs of food wrapped in leaves set on top, and the whole thing buried under earth. Most large Māori gatherings still feature a hāngī, still the finest argument for digging a hole before dinner.

British settlers tried to recreate the cooking of home and kept a deep love of baking, with cakes, scones and muffins marking special occasions. Since the 1970s, Mediterranean, Asian and Pacific Rim influences have changed how people eat, but the classics remain: fish and chips, meat pies, roast lamb and pavlova. Two dishes seen as distinctively Māori show how native and introduced foods came together: pork with pūhā, and the boil up, which simmers pork and potatoes with kūmara and dumplings.

A taste of New Zealand

• Roast lamb with kūmara and mint sauce, Roast lamb, sweet potatoes and mint sauce
• Boil up, Pork bone broth with greens and dumplings
• Mince and cheese pies, Ground beef and cheddar pies
• Parāoa parai, Māori fry bread
• Steamed green lipped mussels
• Whitebait fritters
• Homemade ginger beer
• Mānuka bee's knees, Gin, lemon and mānuka honey cocktail
• Pavlova, Meringue cake with cream and fruit

Circuits

Drivers

• Howden Ganley
• Mike Thackwell
• John Nicholson
• Denny Hulme
• Chris Amon
• Graham McRae
• Tony Shelly
• Bruce McLaren
• Brendon Hartley
• Liam Lawson
• graeme lawrence