ON THE WIND
Ainslie banks on F1 connection
Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team INEOS Britannia has unveiled a major partnership with the Mercedes F1 team, which Ainslie and his backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe hope will reverse the fortunes of the British Challenger of Record after two unsuccessful Cup bids.
The reveal was made amidst a dearth of official Cup news, due to the delayed venue announcement for AC37. That vacuum has been amply filled by plenty of speculation, and some of INEOS’s key signings were of little surprise. However, the breadth and depth of the partnership is significant, because it represents a wholesale shift from having F1 experts dip in as advisors to becoming wholly embedded in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team operation.
Among the significant changes, the team will be moving to the Mercedes F1 HQ in Brackley, Northampton, rather than the Camber in Portsmouth, at least until an on-the-water base is required. Alongside Ainslie, Mercedes–AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team CEO and part-owner Toto Wolff was part of the presentation, signifying that this partnership is being implemented at the highest level. Ratcliffe is not only Ainslie’s team backer, but also a major backer and part owner of Mercedes-AMG Petronas.
Key appointments include James Allison, who will take over as chief technical officer. Allison is widely considered to have had a key role in securing Mercedes’ dominant position in F1.
Geoffrey Willis, technical director of Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science, has also been appointed technical
