America’s Cup, Ineos fires Ben Ainslie. What happened

Dirty laundry is washed at home, they say, but evidently this saying across the Channel is not known: and so the rags are literally flying, between oil tycoon and head of Ineos Britannia Jim Ratcliffe and what is regarded as one of the most successful sailors in history, Ben Ainslie. Let’s start with a fact, Baronet Ben Ainslie was in fact fired by Ineos, which made this known through a frosty statement. To which of course there could not fail to be a response from the person concerned, again via a statement (from his Athena Racing team), equally if not more frosty. These are the essential facts, but what do the two communiqués say and, more importantly, why has it come to this chaos within the British challenge, finalist of the last America’s Cup, and already Challenge of Record in the next edition?

Ineos’ statement

INEOS will participate in the challenge for the 38th America’s Cup under the team name INEOS Britannia after parting ways with Sir Ben Ainslie. Unfortunately, INEOS Britannia and Sir Ben could not agree on terms to move forward after the conclusion of the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona. INEOS Britannia has appointed Dave Endean as CEO, who brings with him immense experience in sailing and the America’s Cup. INEOS will also continue to leverage the design and technology expertise of the Mercedes F1 Team under the leadership of technical director, James Allison.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of INEOS, said, “I am enormously proud of what we accomplished in Barcelona in developing a British boat that was truly competitive for the first time in decades. It set new benchmarks for British sailing, including winning the Louis Vuitton Cup for the first time and challenging the Defender in the finals for the first time in 90 years. We will now build on this for the 38th America’s Cup through the INEOS challenge, and we already have 100 scientists and engineers working on our boat design for AC38.” More details on the INEOS Britannia challenge will follow in due course.

Ben Ainslie’s response

The British challenger for the 38th America’s Cup, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, was stunned to read today’s statement from INEOS and Mercedes F1 regarding their planned challenge for the 38th America’s Cup. This plan raises significant legal and practical hurdles for them that will become apparent in the coming days and weeks. In addition, Sir Ben Ainslie’s British America’s Cup team will be known as Athena Racing in the future, along with the British women’s and youth America’s Cup team, Athena Pathway.

The reasons for the disagreements between Ratclife and Ainslie.

We had once loved each other so much. It seemed almost impossible for two personalities as strong as those of the patron and Sir to be able to coexist for two challenges in a row together without sparks flying. And eventually the knots came to a head. Ratcliffe, accusing Ainslie of making him spend millions upon millions by reaping at least two embarrassments (Bermuda and Auckland), and straightening out the last challenge in the process. Ainslie, allergic to patron interference and critical of the role of Mercedes designers within the British design team. Recall that Ratcliffe owns 33 percent of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, as well as 25 percent of Manchester United in the Premier Leaugue and is also involved in cycling. In fact, Ainslie bemoaned the fact that Mercedes engineers have never been able to make a boat that was truly competitive at the highest level, and posited the need for a change in method. During the final against the New Zealanders, Ainslie barely concealed his frustration at having a significantly slower boat. Ratclife reacted with the most classic of ” the money is mine and I decide, also because you’ve made me spend enough of it already,” and it also seems that there was no agreement on which should be the main sponsor of the next challenge, with Ben Ainslie pressing for the entry of other partners. This brings us to the final days.

The question now, however, is one: who is the Challenge of Record for the British? Ratcliffe’s challenge or Ben Ainslie’s challenge? The challenge in the America’s Cup is represented by the Yacht Club that launches it, not the sponsor, and it would be logical to think that the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes is on Ben Ainslie’s side even if we cannot say so with absolute certainty. Also because it seems likely that instead Jim Ratclife has already paid, in order to be recognized as Challenge of Record immediately after the Barcelona Cup, and before this quarrel, a token to the New Zealanders. Athena Racing’s statement speaks of“significant legal and practical hurdles for them” confirming the fact that it is unclear who will own the challenge as Challenge of Record. We are only at the beginning, in short, of a likely legal contest. Confirming that the America’s Cup, for the British, has always been a indigestible meal.

Mauro Giuffrè