The Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, which will take part in the next America’s Cup, is formed by the Société Nautique de Genève.
Alinghi founder Ernesto Bertarelli and two-time Olympic champion Hans Peter Steinacher announced the launch of Alinghi Red Bull Racing and presented the logo to the Société Nautique de Genève, the yacht club the team will represent in the next America’s Cup. Alinghi Red Bull Racing will begin preparations as soon as possible to participate as an official Challenger in the selection regattas for the 37th America’s Cup in 2024. On the occasion of this special announcement, Christina Horner, Team Principal of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, also attended the event live via satellite.
“While maintaining the winning spirit that has always driven Alinghi, for this challenge we want to do something totally different, completely new and innovative. When Dietrich Mateschitz and I envisioned Red Bull’s involvement in America’s Cup, he said: our philosophy is not to enter the sport as a sponsor, but to merge into the team, creating a true partnership, nurturing young athletes and turning them into the best in their field. Dietrich has also proposed to help give a new dimension to America’s Cup itself,” said Alinghi founder Ernesto Bertarelli who continued: “With Red Bull, we are equal partners in this venture. They will bring their expertise, energy and strength in creating high-performance teams, along with their marketing power; we will contribute our experience in professional sailing and winning America’s Cup. Alinghi Red Bull Racing will bring a new light to the event”.
Among the teams that Alinghi Red Bull Racing is preparing to face are the Defender, four-time America’s Cup winner Emirates Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia. The entry period only opened at the beginning of December, so sailing fans can only expect more challengers to be announced.
Alinghi and Red Bull have long been sporting rivals in events such as the GC32 Racing Tour and the Extreme Sailing Series. Having shared mutual respect and admiration for many years, Hans Peter Steinacher, two-time Olympic champion in the Tornado class and Austria’s most successful summer sportsman, is excited about the new partnership. “The America’s Cup is the most important sailing event in the world,” said the sailing legend, who has been a leader in developing the next generation of sailors as the co-founder of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup and the Red Bull Foiling Generation. “Alinghi’s experience and team spirit is unique in the sport of sailing. The whole of Red Bull is behind this project and I doubt the same could have been done with another team.”
In working with Alinghi, Red Bull also brings with it the expertise of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, which has supported Red Bull Racing in achieving a total of five Formula 1 Drivers’ Championships, including Max Verstappen’s thrilling last-lap triumph in the 2021 season – as well as four F1 Constructors’ Championships.
Speaking live via satellite, Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner said: “We welcome Alinghi Red Bull Racing to the Red Bull world. Our F1 team looks forward to working with this new member of the family to achieve success. Red Bull Advanced Technologies is a high-tech centre, offering services to a variety of sports and other sectors, but in particular to Red Bull Racing. We will share our expertise, engineering and more. Alinghi Red Bull Racing will also make a big contribution, helping us to apply technology in worlds that are new to us”
Four-time America’s Cup winner Brad Butterworth commented: “I’ve been with Alinghi for 20 years and to enter this new challenge with Red Bull is really exciting. The America’s Cup is a technological race that is won on the water with race strategy and tactics. Red Bull has proven this time and time again in F1 and in many of the other sports they are involved in”.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing will be headquartered near Lausanne in Écublens, Switzerland, where the AC75 hull will be built to the requirements of the Deed of Gift, the official America’s Cup rules. A base crew led by Alinghi GC32 co-skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis and mainsail trimmer Bryan Mettraux will begin training over the winter to prepare a 100% Swiss Made crew.
In conjunction with the America’s Cup, Alinghi Red Bull Racing will also field its teams in the Women’s America’s Cup debut as well as the Youth America’s Cup. “Growing the sport and its sailors has always been an important goal for both Red Bull and Alinghi. So Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s involvement in these races will be important and I think seeing these talents in action will be inspiring,” said Steinacher.
(37th America’s Cup: Alinghi Red Bull Racing announces its participation – Barchemagazine.com – December 2021)
