Race for the next America’s Cup has already begun – here is everything you need to know

Britain’s bid to end a 173-year curse in the America’s Cup and #bringthecuphome ultimately ended in disappointment. A 7-2 defeat by New Zealand in the final match was probably a fair reflection, albeit there was frustration within the British camp, as they sensed they were closing the gap every day. Had Ineos managed to survive a few more days, the pendulum might have swung, particularly if the weather turned nasty. As it was, New Zealand were clearly the stronger team.

But there is no time to lick any wounds. The race for the 38th Cup has already begun, with the Royal Yacht Squadron, under whose flag Ineos Britannia race, having had their challenge for the 38th Cup accepted by New Zealand, making them official Challenger of Record again. Now the real politicking begins.

When will the 38th America’s Cup happen?

It definitely will not be four years again, that much is clear. This is not football. There is no Champions League, or domestic league, or Euros, to sustain interest in the interim. The delay this time was largely down to Covid, which wiped out a year.

Both New Zealand and Britain are firmly of the opinion that the America’s Cup needs to capitalise on the interest generated this time, to have more regular competition between Cups and not to leave it so long until the next one.

“As always there are a number of key points that we’ll be working on in the coming days and weeks, and then we’d hope to have a protocol out in the next seven or eight months,” Bertie Bicket, chairman of the RYS, told Telegraph Sport on Saturday. “I think there’s a general acceptance that a more regular cycle is sensible. But you can’t have it too short. If you have it too short, there’s not enough time to develop, or for new teams to come in.”

Grant Dalton, chief executive of defenders Team New Zealand, agreed. “There’s nothing to stop us from doing it next April if we wanted to,” he said. “Of course we won’t do it that soon, but there’s nothing to stop us doing that. It would be good to be doing some sort of racing next year.”

Where will it take place?

Unclear. Dalton told Telegraph Sport that Jeddah, where a preliminary was held last December, was “definitely a possibility”, describing Saudi Arabia as “a great partner”. “We would probably cop some criticism if we went there,” he added. “But we’ve already been there once and it worked really well.”

Dalton said his first priority would be to go back to Auckland “if we could make the numbers add up”. There is some scepticism they will be able to do that, with the New Zealand government under pressure to reduce debt and a feeling that spending public money on an America’s Cup might not be good optics. “It would probably need to be some combination of government/council/private funding,” Dalton said.

Staying in Barcelona, or Spain, is another distinct possibility, with Dalton noting tax breaks for events of “exceptional public interest”, allowing companies to recoup their spend on sponsorships or advertising. “It’s not to be underestimated when you contemplate the fee,” Dalton said. “Someone might pay a lot more, but you end up, you know, net worse. So yeah, definitely, it’s a factor of coming back here, yeah, absolutely.”

Dalton added there was “one other country” in consideration.

Bicket, for his part, noted that the choice of venue was a “matter for the defender” but said Britain would “love to return to Auckland” or stay in Europe. “I don’t think anybody would object to staying here at all. The city has been amazing, the facilities have been fantastic.”

Preliminary regattas, or some sort of “world series”, could, of course, take place anywhere, most likely in challengers’ countries.

What will it look like?

We already know we will be back in AC75 foiling monohulls as that was a condition of entering the 37th Cup. Whoever won had to commit to keeping the class for at least one more cycle. But there will no doubt be tweaks to the boat.

What there will certainly be is changes to the build-up, with more racing in between Cups. Possibly even fleet racing. “I know Jim [Ratcliffe] wants to do that, and our guys are sort of in that space as well,” Dalton said. “That would be pretty spectacular. You could see how they go, heading into the Louis Vuitton [challenger series]. In the end, the America’s Cup is a match race. But you could go into a fleet race environment in the 75s quite soon. As soon as next year. That would be pretty spectacular.”

The Women’s America’s Cup will certainly return, probably the youth one as well, with Bicket saying one of their stipulations was to promote equality, “with the ultimate aim to see women on America’s Cup boats”. But do not expect quotas. Neither Britain nor New Zealand are fans of mandating female crew.

More than this time, certainly. Most likely the five challengers from this campaign (although American Magic are vehemently against a Saudi Cup), plus one or two more. Bicket would like to open it up. “It would be lovely to see more challengers in general,” he said. “I think we were justifiably pleased there were five challengers this time around compared to only three last time. So let’s try to get to 10 next time.”

Dalton stressed it was about quality over quantity. “The America’s Cup is not SailGP in terms of lots of teams,” he said. “It’s a technology race and quality is important. So it’s not eight. There might be one more, possibly two, but it’s not three. First of all, you can’t house them. There’s no way to do it because they take up so much space. And I’m not sure there’s a good enough pool of yachtsmen to do it in the world, with the nationality rule. So I don’t buy into lots of teams. No, I buy into quality.”

A Spanish entry would be a possibility if it stays in Spain. A Swedish team through Artemis. Maybe an Australian team. “They’d be good to have back,” Dalton said. “They’ve got a sh–load of good people, if they could lure them out of other teams.”

Will Sir Jim Ratcliffe be back?

Yes, Ratcliffe has committed to another cycle with Ineos and Mercedes F1. Although the Manchester United co-owner told Telegraph Sport last weekend that he would not be fully funding next time. Ineos Britannia must find other partners and sponsors to help with the £100 million-plus campaign costs. It remains to be seen who they bring in.

Will Ainslie be on the helm again?

Again, unclear. Even he says he does not know. Now 47, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time could be 50 by the time the next Cup comes around. “Age is just a number,” he stressed in the mixed zone after racing on Saturday, and it is true that with these dual-helm boats there is no need for the helms to be powerful or agile. It will likely come down to motivation, whether he feels he still has what it takes and whether he feels he could have a bigger impact by focusing solely on a management role. On the question of ability, Dylan Fletcher was adamant that Ben Ainslie was still at the top of his game. “I think you only have to look at this regatta, we have been the sharpest team in the pre-starts, so I don’t see why not,” he said.

Ainslie said he was in no rush to decide. “I’m committed to the team really, whatever my role is it’s how I can serve the team best,” he said. “Ultimately I don’t know next time whether I will be on the water or not, but I am committed to the team moving forward and ultimately to getting the job done and winning the Cup.”

Fletcher looks a certainty to be back, with double Olympic champion Giles Scott – the man he replaced at the 11th hour – coming back into consideration if Ainslie did decide to hang up his gloves. Scott’s move to helm Canada’s SailGP team next season will not affect his chances. “Absolutely not,” Ainslie told Telegraph Sport. “I don’t know what the lineup would look like next time but for sure he would be under consideration for one of the helm spots.”

Will Britain be in better shape next time?

History would suggest so. Ainslie started the team 10 years ago and this was only their third campaign, and second with Mercedes F1. This New Zealand team have been going for more than 30 years, and Luna Rossa in excess of 20. Ainslie’s team have improved each cycle, with this last Cup – when the integration with Mercedes F1 ran far, far deeper – a quantum leap forward, Britain winning the Louis Vuitton challenger series for the first time and becoming the first British team to challenge for the Cup in 60 years.

So marked has been their improvement, Dalton said other teams had to take note. “I think until this campaign the F1 thing was a bit superficial,” he said. “But now they are fully integrated. And that was a brave move. To be prepared to take risk, or what would appear to be yachting risk to yachties. To put it in the hands of different people. I think it’s been outstanding. We didn’t expect them to reach the final this time. And that’s not an indictment of them. I just thought they’d be about half a campaign later. But it’s testament to Ben and Jim and their vision, really. A team like this, if we don’t react next time and learn from them, we’ll get absolutely pounded, because they’re going to go like this [up].”

New Zealand will still have an in-built advantage, of course. The defender always does. Britain will still have to build a boat to win the challenger series, which necessarily compromises their chances if they get through to the Cup match. But this is their second time around as Challenger of Record, too, so perhaps they will get better at the negotiating table as well? “I think that it is only natural that we would be striving to roll the pitch as flat as we possibly can,” Bicket said.