The purest barometer of Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup success is not in feedback from his Ineos Britannia’s billionaire backer Jim Ratcliffe, nor in the warm-up regattas to this year’s event. Instead, it rests on the shoulders of a seven-year-old Wimbledon schoolgirl.
Bellatrix is the team’s biggest detractor, and also the elder of Ainslie’s two children.
“She’s a hard-ass so, if we’re not winning, we know about it,” he says of the critiques he receives on his return to London from the team’s Barcelona base. “People talk about dealing with pressure, but my hardest taskmaster is definitely my daughter.
“She’ll be like, ‘Daddy, that was embarrassing, what was going on, what’s the point, why are you even bothering?’ Most of the time it’s funny, but every now and then, when you’ve had a brutal week, you could do with a softer time.”
With the clock ticking to the America’s Cup later this year, Ainslie’s multi-million-pound operation has not been without its setbacks, most recently a costly battery fire which put one of its test boats completely out of action.
Ainslie’s unlikely source of inspiration for the rebuild is USS Yorktown, the aircraft carrier so badly damaged by Japanese aircraft at the Battle of Midway, it was estimated it would take two months to repair. Its engineers had it patched up and back in action two days later. As he puts it: “The team are probably bored of me telling that story now!”
Their rivals would argue Ineos Britannia are on the back foot, having struggled in the regattas in the smaller AC40 boats. But the team argue the proof will be in the speed of the AC75, set to hit the water in the coming weeks.
Ainslie and his 180-strong outfit have taken a different tack to their rivals, going into partnership with a Formula One team, Mercedes. Even their two grand prix drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, are showing a keen interest.
Britain has never won the America’s Cup, Ainslie trying for the third time to right that wrong after shortcomings in Bermuda and New Zealand.
The clock is ticking to D-day with the AC75 or, as Ainslie puts it, “when we find out if we have a competitive boat, whether it’s an enjoyable summer or a very long summer”. It is, he says, “a nervewracking period as it’s three, four years of effort and a huge investment from Jim”.
Ainslie agrees that at this stage his team are on the back foot, but prefers it that way. His greatest results have tended to come in adversity, from his infamous “don’t make me angry” remark at London 2012 to a pivotal role in one of sport’s greatest comebacks to win the Cup for Team Oracle USA the year after.
“I’ve always liked it when my back’s against the wall and I’ve had to come out and turn things around,” he said. “If you asked sailing aficionados who follow the America’s Cup, I don’t think many of them would have us down as favourites after our setbacks.
“But I’m quite happy being an underdog. Maybe that’s the spark you need to really keep the fighting spirit going.”
Ainslie meets Ratcliffe at his Monaco home once or twice a month to update him, as well as sharing a WhatsApp group with Ratcliffe, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and a third knight of the realm, Dave Brailsford.
“The bigger the challenge, the more enticing Jim sees it,” said Ainslie. “I don’t think there are many bigger challenges in world sport than taking on Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup. It’s like the All Blacks in rugby.”
On a day-to-day basis, the contact is more with Geoff Willis, previously a key figure at Mercedes behind Hamilton’s world titles there. For Willis, life has come full circle, having started his engineering career in the America’s Cup before his move into F1. And he argues designing an F1 car and a 75-foot racing boat are surprisingly similar.
He said: “You might think one is engines, tyres and suspension, the other sails, foils and water. It’s more like an 80 per cent overlap, which is astonishing.”
I’m quite happy being an underdog... maybe that’s the spark you need to really keep the fighting spirit going
As for whether the Ineos-Mercedes partnership can lead to victory, Willis said: “Can I play through that we can win this one? Yes.”
The F1 link-up is not its only sporting crossover, having pilfered a quartet of British rowers as cyclors on board the boat — Matt Gotrel, Matt Rossiter, Ryan Todhunter and Harry Leask, effectively their power source.
And Tokyo Olympic sailing champion Dylan Fletcher is central to gathering intel on rival teams. It is all part of Ainslie’s bid to keep on pursuing the America’s Cup dream until it becomes a reality.
“We’re determined to get the Cup back where it started and where it should be,” he said.
