Ben Ainslie on the Ineos Britannia/Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science partnership announcement
Immediately after Monday’s live-streamed announcement Ben Ainslie took follow-up questions from invited sailing and motorsport media. Here’s what he had to say.
Some people might be surprised that the British America’s Cup sailing team is now based in landlocked Brackley – 85 miles north of its previous HQ on the edge of the Solent in Portsmouth. What is the thinking behind that?
Just the level of the partnership we have with the Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science made it a no brainer, really.
From a design perspective, the 2000 people in this campus here are focused on trying to create the best possible Formula 1 car. For us to bring our designers here was a lot easier than trying to filter people out of out of Brackley down to Portsmouth, or wherever else.
Then there are the resources we can tap into. Things like components testing, or simulation – which we know in our world is as key as it is in Formula One. I think America's Cup in some areas is pretty developed. But in other areas, maybe it's a bit underdeveloped – a bit juvenile.
Within this organisation, when we've got a problem, we have the world's leading experts in any particular area that we can go to and ask that question of and get a response. Whereas before, we would go out to technical partners, and it might take you three or four weeks to get a response. So it's that capability that we're able to tap into that makes such a big difference.
Will the team ever return to its original headquarters at The Camber in Portsmouth?
Camber has got BAR Technologies in there. They are doing really well – as a business it's really taking off. They are not quite full capacity, but there's not actually any space for us – although I think there might be at some point for a reduced team for some different special projects. But we couldn't get to take the whole organisation back now.
All the engineers and the management are based here in Brackley. And then as we get an idea of the venue and the Protocol then we can formulate a sort of timeline and work out where we want to go sailing. We will most likely just have satellite bases wherever we're sailing/testing.
We know that we can do that. With some reasonably impressive tents and in a couple of weeks you can be set up and sailing. It's quite a big shift but I think might work out better for us – just being more flexible and being more focused.
How much time are you personally spending in Brackley at the moment?
I work here with both the design team and the management team. I work very closely with Dave Endean as our COO, Matt Robinson our CFO, and Jo Grindley runs our MarCom’s. Then we have James Allison and Geoff Willis on the design side – and then the rest of the team. I spend three days a week here on average, and then other than that, I’m at meetings around the place or on the road with SailGP.
Do you spend much time with Toto Wolff? Is he someone hope to learn from?
I see Toto more socially than I do at work as his schedule is full on and he is on the road a lot with the with the race team. I'm really impressed by him and by the whole organisation. His wife Susie, and Georgie, my wife, get on really well. So, it's good to have nice friendship form and I certainly hope I can learn a lot from him.
Despite the obvious technology synergies between F1 and the America’s Cup there are lots of differences between the two sports. For example, F1 is about accumulating enough points in a season to end up on top, whereas the America’s Cup is more about several years of development, testing, and training that culminates in one regatta series for the main prize.
It’s hard. Like you say, you don't have next week or next season to right any mistakes and build on your experience. That's why we always say continuity is so key in our sport. It's unusual that America’s Cup teams go more than one or two cycles.
You need that continuity to build up the partnerships, personal partnerships, the intellectual property, and so on. And that's why merging with a Formula One organisation that has the continuity, like Mercedes F1 is so good for our team – because it can help us have that focus, that mindset.
How will this new partnership/relationship differ from when you partnered with Adrian Newey from Red Bull in 2014?
That really stemmed from Adrian. He and I met and got on really well. He was really passionate about getting involved with the Cup. But I think back then it didn't really fit the Red Bull structure so well in terms of the team's focus on Formula One. For whatever reason, we couldn't really get the scale of the partnership right.
This is much, much, more meaningful. With James Allison, we’ve got his full attention on this. Whereas, with Red Bull, it was hard to get Adrian's time, understandably, with that organisation. And it wasn't anywhere near as collaborative or meaningful as this or this partnership.
Has the America’s Cup evolved into such a technologically advanced competition that the teams will all need to cozy up to F1 teams to get access to the necessary design expertise and specialist resources required to be competitive?
It's getting that way. Team New Zealand has obviously been really successful in the last couple of cycles. But they are a team that’s been in the Cup now for 30 years. Okay, the people may have changed slightly over the years, but it's essentially the same organisation.
They actually have a lot of F1 design input in their campaign. Their lead designer Dan Bernasconi has a Formula One background through McLaren. That influence, that approach, that discipline, you can see that through the Team New Zealand organisation as well.
You have managed to poach Luna Rossa’s designer Martin Fischer. Was he always your target?
Yes. Martin really impressed me as I got to know him a little bit out in Auckland. And then as we've gone through this process linking in with the team here you can see he has a lot of traits that the Formula One team have. He’s very structured and disciplined. So recruiting Martin is a really good fit for this merger.
Did he take much persuading to join the team?
Well, like anyone who is any good, there always has to be a little bit of persuasion. I think if it's all a bit too easy, then maybe there's a reason behind that. I think Martin had a good campaign with Luna Rossa and then, like everybody else, I suppose he was looking at options and what might play out. We're really happy to have him here with us.
Matt Shaver is another key guy another key signing – a big name in the foil design world. He was with American Magic in the last cycle. There have been a few guys that have come across some other teams that we are really happy to have with us now.
Is the delay to announcing the venue for the 37th America’s Cup holding the team back in any significant way at this stage? Do you expect it to delay the publication of the AC37 Protocol which is due next month?
Not knowing the venue is not ideal for anybody, for any team – including the Kiwis, whose responsibility it is. We can only keep trying to encourage and support them to get a venue deal done.
When it comes to the protocol however, we are obviously involved in that. We are committed to getting it done by mid-November, and we will push hard for that. The Kiwis have been good, and they are also similarly committed to that. So, no problem there.
I would say that not having a venue should not be an excuse for not making that deadline. I'm not involved with the discussions, but I'd say there's a reasonable chance that we might not know the venue by mid-November.
So therefore, we have at least to get the protocol done. The class rule is obviously key to that as well. It's getting those two things in place. Then the teams – although they don't know the venue – they know most of the parameters around the event.
So, we shouldn’t expect any surprises on the evolution of the boat for the 37th America’s Cup?
The boat is going to be an AC75. There might be a few changes, but it's not going to be that much different.
We had a discussion with all the other potential teams two or three months ago. We talked about people's philosophies on a range of things. Like whether we should take some weight out of the boat, whether you want to be able to sail in five knots as opposed to the currently eight knots lower wind limit, and other things like that. I think you'll see a lot of that in the class rule when it comes out, but I don't think there will be any sort of shocks there.
There was a perception before the last edition of the America’s Cup that because the Challenger of Record and Defender came up with the AC75 design rule they had a six-month head start on the other teams. Now with the rule just being refined from last time do the other teams have less to worry about?
I think we've tried to be very open. We were a bit frustrated in the last cycle, because of the situation you described, and we want to want to try and avoid that this time around and have a bit more of a fair playing field.
I'm sure there are probably teams sitting there right now thinking why don't we know what's going on? Well, we said we are going to have a protocol by mid-November. We're certainly committed to that, and I think the Kiwis are too. That will be one of the quickest turnarounds of a protocol that that there's been.
We got all the teams together and had a really collaborative meeting about where do we all think that class will, should go. So, they're all up to speed on that side of things.
Can you tell us more about who was involved in that design discussion meeting and which teams they were representing?
It was most of the key designers from the last Cup. Some of those we know have gone into going into other potential teams – there have been lots of rumours about which teams may or may not enter – but we know that that the design talent pool is dispersed amongst the serious players.
So there is nothing that you and the Defender are able to move ahead with that the other teams cannot at this stage?
All we've done – which is the same as I know the other teams are doing – is trying to get our key personnel in place and look at our design tools. Every other team will be doing that, and if they're not doing that, then they're not serious about moving forward.
How hard was recruit the people you wanted, given that the talent pool gets smaller and smaller as the boats get more and more technical?
It's always a bit of a game – a bit like transfer window in football, I guess. You know which people you you'd like to try and entice, and some are on the market, and some are not. Knowing that we were actually going to go again – and obviously, I can thank Jim for that – helped in terms of how seriously you can approach people and have meaningful discussions.
Other than yourself, the only sailor you have announced is Giles Scott. What will his role be for this campaign?
He and I are the senior sailors on the team, really. How that evolves for the next three years, that's like anything else [still to be decided].
I'm taking on more of a management role than I did in the last campaign and it's natural that Giles and I both evolve – and we both want to evolve in that way.
He and I have got a really good relationship, with a huge amount of respect for one another. We get on really well on and off the water. So, it's a good partnership in that respect. He’s a really key part of the team.
Might we perhaps see you and Giles share the helming in the way that Luna Rossa managed so successfully with Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni?
That's an option. It worked well for Luna Rossa. We haven't made any decisions in terms of the layout of the boat and so on yet, but it's always a possibility. Giles is more than capable of doing that. So we've got plenty of options, which is good.
What are your thoughts on the AC40, the Youth America’s Cup, and the Women’s America’s Cup?
That discussion was driven by the Kiwis and is all about creating a pathway for youth and women – which is a no brainer, really.
The boats would also be used for some preliminary regattas as well. That's something I think we all want to see. More racing is good for everyone: the sailors, the spectators and the fans, and the teams. In terms of the class of boat, that will be a Team New Zealand-driven initiative. So I'm sure it will be sure will be a pretty impressive boat.
Might sailing’s most successful Olympic medallist Hannah Mills lead the first British women’s America’s Cup campaign?
Maybe! That's an obvious choice. She's great and she sails with us a bit in SailGP. We have several different girls come sailing with us in SailGP and they've all been really impressive. If we have a women's team, then it would be nice to see all of those girls get a chance through that team.
How valuable has competing on SailGP circuit been for the America’s Cup campaign?
I'm just so pleased that we had the opportunity to join the SailGP league and get to be a part of it. If we weren't doing that, I would be scratching my head right now trying to work out how we would get any meaningful racing to keep us sharp.
It's great for building the relationships with the key guys and helping the team stay race sharp. Also, for our commercial partnerships, it's a great way to activate partners, partnerships, get some brands out there.
People talked about it being the Cup against SailGP. But I actually see them complementing each other really strongly. The Cup has got this sort of special event status really. SailGP is more like the Champions League, it's every season, with the best sailors out there racing 10 events per season.
The continuity keeps rolling and rolling and I think the sport really has been crying out for a professional league like that, to take it to the next level.
Do you think it is possible for the SailGP and the America’s Cup organisations to collaborate for their mutual benefit?
I'm certain that they can do. It requires both events to work together with one another to make sure that schedules don't clash. But the fact that you've got so many of the same sailors racing in both competitions, you are kind of going to have to do that. Because the sailors aren't going to accept not being able to race in both competitions.
We have just got to be clever about how we schedule the racing.
Do you have any interest in Formula 1?
Yes! Somebody asked me the other day what I would have been if weren't a sailor – and honestly, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a Formula One driver. But I grew up in Cornwall, and unfortunately, there weren't many karting tracks, so I got into sailing and one thing led to another.
But I'm a huge F1 fan. Georgie used to cover the sport for Sky, and I watch every race and I try and watch the preview programs.
Further interviews from the Ineos Britannia media day with James Allison and Toto Wolff are to follow in the next 24 hours.