America's Cup: How it works, teams and GB's bid

Ben Ainslie's Ineos Britannia team will take on Italy's Luna Rossa in the final qualification races to decide who will compete in the 37th America's Cup.

Britannia, bidding to become the first British crew to win the America's Cup, qualified for the Louis Vuitton Cup final by beating Swiss team Alinghi 5-2 in the semi-finals.

The best-of-13 final takes place off the coast of Barcelona from 26 September to 5 October.

The first team to win seven races will earn the right to take on defending champions Team New Zealand for the America's Cup from 12-17 October.

First held around the Isle of Wight in 1851, the America's Cup is the world's oldest sporting competition and - for the first time in its history - includes a women's event.

Hannah Mills, Britain's most successful female Olympic sailor with two golds and a silver, leads the 12-strong British squad in the qualification races starting on 5 October.

How does the America's Cup work and what's the schedule?

Ineos Britannia skimming over the water off the coast of Barcelona

Four-time Olympic sailing champion Ainslie is the skipper and chief executive officer of the Britannia team, which is backed by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group.

The qualification series began at the end of August with a double round-robin competition between the five challengers.

Britannia topped the standings, beating Luna Rossa in a sail-off to decide the winners, while France's Orient Express were eliminated.

In the semi-final stage, Britannia dominated Alinghi but Luna Rossa had to overcome damage to their boat before beating American Magic 5-3.

The Louis Vuitton Cup final has two races per day on 26, 28 and 29 September and then 1, 2, 4 and 5 October, with reserve days on 6 and 7 October.

Team New Zealand automatically qualify for the America's Cup final match having won the trophy - known as the Auld Mug - in 2021.

How fast are the America's Cup boats?

Britannia enlisted the help of engineering experts from the Mercedes Formula 1 team in a bid to find a technical advantage over their rivals.

All teams race in yachts known as AC75s. They are 75ft-long foiling race boats with one carbon-fibre hull (a monohull instead of catamaran or trimaran).

They have been described as like a "large windsurfing board with towering sails" by Sailing World.

The AC75s - which have sails up to 87 feet high - have extendable hydrofoil wings which can lift the hull up and enable the boats to skim the surface of the water so they appear like they are flying.

This helps the boats to reach exhilarating speeds of more than 50 knots (57.5mph), despite weighing about 6.5 tonnes.

But make a mistake and the boats could capsize.

Who is in Britannia's team?

Britannia's crew features Olympic medallists and world champions from the sports of sailing and rowing

Each boat has eight crew members, with two helmsmen and two sail trimmers on different sides.

Joining Ainslie as co-helm is Olympic gold medallist Dylan Fletcher, who won the 49er class at Tokyo 2020, while Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon are the trimmers.

The other four sailors on the boat provide the hydraulic power to trim the sails by pedalling static bikes fixed inside the hull.

Four of the nine "cycling sailors" in the Britannia squad have an Olympic rowing background - including 2016 gold medallist Matt Gotrel and Tokyo silver medallist Harry Leask.

Known as "cyclors", they have been put through their paces on dry land by Grenadiers' top cyclists to build their endurance levels.

Double Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott is the team's head of sailing.

There is also a big onshore team including sailmakers, engineers, software technicians - and even meteorologists.

It is estimated that the average America's Cup campaign costs about £100m.

Ineos Britannia's performance, operation and support team in Barcelona with the AC75 boat Britannia

Ben Ainslie's mission to win the America's Cup

Ainslie won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four consecutive Games from 2000 to 2012.

Competing initially in the Laser category, he switched to the larger Finn boats and won nine World Championship titles across both classes.

Since winning gold at London 2012, Ainslie's goal has been to claim the America's Cup for Great Britain.

He set up his own British team to compete in the America's Cup World Series in 2012-2013 with the aim of gaining experience for a full challenge in 2017.

Ainslie went on to win the Auld Mug in 2013, using all his tactical nous to turn around Team Oracle USA's fortunes in spectacular style.

His two subsequent attempts in a British boat have ended in disappointment.

In 2017, Ainslie's Land Rover BAR team were knocked out in the semi-finals.

In the Covid-hit 2021 campaign, his Ineos Team UK won the round-robin stage but lost 7-1 to Luna Rossa in the final selection race series.

What about the Women's America's Cup?

Women have competed in the America's Cup before - most notably American Dawn Riley, who sailed in the competition three times and was team manager of the French entry in 2007 - but have never had a standalone series.

The inaugural Women’s America’s Cup takes place in AC40 boats - a smaller version of the AC75 - from 5-13 October in Barcelona.

Great Britain's Athena Pathway will be one of 12 teams to start the qualification series from 5-9 October.

Mills, 36, has assembled a team full of Olympic and world medallists, including her former partner Saskia Clark and Paris 2024 kite sailing gold medallist Ellie Aldridge.

They will hope to advance to the final on 11 October, and from there reach the match race final on 13 October.

Great Britain are also represented in the Youth America’s Cup, taking place from 17-26 September.