F1 rematch in the America’s Cup
Since entries for the 37th America’s Cup opened on 1 December 2021, two teams have confirmed they will be challenging. In what must be a huge boost to the beleaguered Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, both are seriously bighitting teams. Both have also signed significant partnerships with Formula 1 teams.
First to confirm was Alinghi. Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, whose team was the first ever to win on its Cup debut in 2003, makes a return as Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
“Eleven years after winning the America’s Cup, we’re back. We never quite left,” Bertarelli said.
“When we stopped racing in the Cup we didn’t stop competing. We always had in mind that we would come back.”
Alinghi will be racing under the burgee of the
Société Nautique de Genève. Under new Protocol rules, this requires all the sailing team to be Swiss, and the boat to be built in Switzerland.
Bertarelli pointed out the team has been sailing in fast foiling boats, such as the T35, with a young Swiss team. The squad includes highly skilled foiling sailors like Arnaud Psarofaghis, twice Moth European Champion. The team has also welcomed Alinghi’s former Cup skipper Brad Butterworth back into the fold. The veteran Kiwi Cup sailor’s role in the team wasn’t confirmed, but he will be closely involved, and intends to bring – as he put it – “a bit of the old school into the new world.”
Alinghi was the second Challenger to confirm an alliance with a Formula 1 team, following the recently announced pairing of Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia with Mercedesamg Petronas F1. Following the controversial showdown between Red Bull Racing’s driver
Max Verstappen and Mercedes-amg’s Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 F1 World Championship, the Cup looks set to create something of a rematch between these two mighty technical teams on water.
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing
Team Principal, said: “We’re going to take Formula 1 DNA and use it within the boat. We’re going up against Mercedes and INEOS on the water, and maybe Ferrari as well, it’s tremendously exciting.”
Adrian Newey is Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer, and was previously involved in Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR campaign for the 2017 America’s Cup. “He obviously will be showing interest but we want to keep him a little bit focussed on the car,” said Horner. “But his design team will be fully involved in this, using all the same tools and approach.”
The second Challenger to confirm their entry was the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team, who at the time of going to press had announced no further details. However, as Red Bull’s
Horner hinted during the Alinghi announcement, rumours are rife that Ferrari may be partnering with the Italian sailing team. If so, the three biggest Formula 1 teams in the world will now be heavily involved in the America’s Cup, perhaps hinting at the phenomenal level of technical development – and spending – we can expect to see in this Cup cycle.