Looked like a match made in heaven
In truth, Ainslie was unlikely to have been astounded. It seems this split had been coming for a while, with the two men apparently at loggerheads over control of the team.
The shame is that it is Britain’s America’s Cup hopes that are likely to suffer. Ainslie and Ratcliffe had looked like a match made in heaven back in 2018; Britain’s most successful sailor teaming up with Britain’s richest man to “bring the cup home”. Both of them no-nonsense, proven winners.
Ratcliffe was a virtual unknown in those days, at least outside of the city. The petrochemicals billionaire had not yet bought his one-third stake in Mercedes F1. Or the Team Sky cycling outfit. Or agreed to sponsor the All Blacks. As for a controlling stake in Manchester United, that was still years away. As far as football clubs went, Ratcliffe only owned FC Lausanne-Sport back then, although he was sniffing around Chelsea. The main interest in Ratcliffe in 2018, in fact, was that Britain’s wealthiest man had chosen to move to Monaco shortly after being knighted, a decision that made front-page news.
Ratcliffe’s arrival on the sailing scene was not without controversy either. Ineos is one of the biggest plastics manufacturers in the world. And for Ainslie, who had built his Ben Ainslie Racing team on a ticket of sustainability, getting into bed with an industrialist was a reputational risk.
But he also knew Ratcliffe’s money was his best chance of winning the oldest international trophy in sport. Ainslie agreed to ditch his other sponsors, a condition of Ratcliffe’s backing and one that put a few noses out of joint, in particular Land Rover’s, who had already committed to another campaign, and did not look back.
That first campaign together was not a great success. Time is just as important as money in the America’s Cup and the fact that Ineos and Ainslie only got together midway through the AC36 cycle, with Mercedes F1 coming on board even later, meant they were behind the curve from the outset. They duly failed to qualify from the challenger series in Auckland in 2021.
But Ratcliffe was sufficiently encouraged to commit to another campaign. And AC37 was undoubtedly a success in the end. The technical partnership with Mercedes F1 was deeper and more integrated than before, with hundreds of staff at Brackley seconded to the sailing project and James Allison appointed technical director. The boat design was more aggressive.
Despite a wobbly start last August, when the team faltered in the preliminary regatta, they improved dramatically through the course of the challenger series, eventually becoming the first British team in history to win the Louis Vuitton Cup when they beat Italians Luna Rossa 7-4 in the challenger final and the first in 60 years to reach the cup itself. Ainslie and Ratcliffe celebrated together aboard Britannia before popping champagne on stage in the race village in Barcelona’s Port Olímpic.
And although Britain were soundly beaten by New Zealand in October’s final, going down 7-2 to the defenders, there was no shame in that. The truth is the defender is always the favourite in the America’s Cup. They make the rules and stack them in their favour. What AC37 did prove was the combination of Ainslie’s sailing nous and knowledge – gleaned over the course of three campaigns – allied to Mercedes’s technical know-how and Ineos’s financial might, could work.
Chances are they would have been even stronger next time, with Challenger of Record status again and a better idea of how best to press home that advantage.
We will never know now. Although Ratcliffe told the Telegraph on the eve of the Cup match in October that he would “definitely go again” with Ainslie, there were already caveats creeping into his rhetoric. He said he wanted to bring in “outside sponsorship” next time but that Ineos would stay as “the operator”. It seems this is where he and Ainslie disagreed. Over whose team it was. Ratcliffe wanted to be the operator. Ainslie was not about to relinquish control of his team.
Tensions and pressure
The Telegraph has heard rumours of “tensions” between the two men even before that, with Ratcliffe said to have been deeply unhappy about the team finishing fourth out of sixth in the preliminary regatta and worried there might be a repeat of Auckland. Having relocated to Barcelona for the entirety of the cup, staying on his superyacht Hampshire 2, on which he entertained his guests, he did not want to be embarrassed again.
He was certainly applying a lot of pressure. In a separate interview with the Telegraph a few months earlier, sitting on the balcony of the team’s base alongside Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff and Ainslie, the billionaire had stressed the importance of continuity and stability in the America’s Cup, noting that the likes of New Zealand had been going “hard at it for 30-35 years”. But in the same breath he warned that Ainslie’s team would have to do “respectably well” this time for him to recommit. “I mean, there’s only one objective of course. It’s the same with Toto and F1. It’s about winning first and foremost,” he said.
Of course, Ratcliffe had every right to say that, to apply that pressure. But equally, Ainslie had every right to feel by the end of the cup that he had delivered on Ratcliffe’s goal of doing “respectably well” and had shown he could take the team forward again.
Now the whole thing is a mess. Ratcliffe has declared his intention to continue with Mercedes but without Ainslie. Ainslie, whose team theoretically remains Challenger of Record under the flag of the Royal Yacht Squadron, insists he will continue under the name Athena Racing, albeit he will have to find new backing. And the two look destined to go to court over the assets and IP built up over the course of three cycles. From gin and tonics in a London pub in 2018, to champagne in Barcelona last autumn, it looks as if they will be serving each other hemlock for some time.
