Ben Ainslie admitted in a recent interview that if someone better or younger, successfully challenged him he would have no qualms moving on
Having partnered with billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is bankrolling their INEOS Britannia team, he still plans to on the boat for both the 37th America’s Cup and SailGP circuit events.
Undoubtably, Ainslie at 45 is entering the twilight stage of an illustrious career and he knows that this next America’s Cup is most likely his last as skipper on the boat . . . but he will not go quietly and is still determined to win the ‘Auld Mug’ in a British boat.
After the failure of the INEOS Britannia team in Auckland at AC36, when once again a British challenger was revealed to be lacking in performance. Despite the team working hard to correct the design failures, they were left playing catch-up.
Ratcliffe continues to back the America’s Cup team but has raised the bar by engaging the expertise of his Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1 Team for the next Cup.
A move that has triggered similar Formula 1 – America’s Cup partnerships among the other potential AC37 teams.
An early change was the addition of James Allison, who has spent 30 years in the world of Formula 1, taking on the role of Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at INEOS Britannia, alongside his existing role of CTO of Mercedes F1.
Significantly the America’s Cup team’s design base has moved from its purpose built Portsmouth base to within the high-tech atmosphere of Ratcliffe’s Formula 1 team HQ.
Ainslie also has a majority stake in the British SailGP team with investor Chris Bake and will compete in next month’s 2021/22 season finale in San Francisco.
The first season (event season 2) for Ainslie has not been without its problems and his undoubted starting skills have been under pressure in the fast, crowded, multihull fleet environment.
A disastrous Australian Sail GP in Sydney, where a collision with the Japan SailGP Team on the opening day, forced him to withdraw from racing and offer his F50 to the Japan team to enable them to go racing on the second day.
That setback means that he will now head to San Francisco in sixth place and with little chance of making the grand final – comprising the top three boats – to compete for the $1m winner takes all prize.
Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix, 26-27 March 2022
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