In brief
- What: Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix, round eleven of thirteen in Season 6 of the Rolex SailGP Championship
- Where: Lake Geneva, Switzerland
- When: 19-20 September 2026
- Conditions: Light, 5-6 knots – the F50s on the edge of foiling for much of the racing
- Format: Fleet split into two groups; Red Bull Italy SailGP Team raced in Group B
- Event winner: Spain’s Los Gallos, driven by Diego Botín
- Next: Dubai (event twelve), then the Abu Dhabi Grand Final at the end of November, where the Season 6 title is settled
European leg ends at the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix
Geneva, Switzerland, 20 September 2026 – The Red Bull Italy SailGP Team has now wrapped up its European leg of the Rolex SailGP Championship’s sixth season. The Switzerland Sail Grand Prix was round eleven of thirteen, and the last stop before the fleet heads to the United Arab Emirates for the two events that decide the Rolex SailGP Championship.
Light winds put a premium on foiling
Lake Geneva handed the fleet one of the trickiest weekends of the season. In winds of five to six knots, the F50s spent much of the racing on the edge of foiling. Getting up on the foils and staying there was the whole contest, and it came down to three things: clean starts, clean manoeuvres, and reading where the next patch of breeze would land. Small mistakes were expensive.
Five fleet races in Group B
As per SailGP’s new rules, the fleet was split into two groups. Racing in Group B, the Italian team opened with a third, then took sixth and fifth. Sunday brought more of the same conditions, the breeze building slowly through the afternoon without ever making the racing straightforward. Phil Robertson and his crew took fourth in the first race of the day and third in the second, the last fleet race of the event.
96.6% foiling in the closing race
In that final race, the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team posted a fly time of 96.6% – the share of the race spent foiling – the highest of any boat on the water, on a day when much of the fleet was stuck in the water.
Team leaders weigh in
The pace was there in places, but not across all five races. “Unfortunately we had a few small errors at critical times, which cost us consistency over the weekend,” said Jimmy Spithill, Red Bull Italy SailGP Team CEO. “We take the lessons to the Middle East, as we prepare for Season 7.”
Driver Phil Robertson added: “A difficult final day and, overall, a mediocre event. We didn’t achieve the results we needed, so we will definitely have to review our approach to both starts and races. We’re disappointed, but it’s time to go back to the drawing board and get back to work. We’ve got six to eight weeks until the next event now, when everything gets shipped to the Middle East. A bit of time to revisit, reset, and make some plans for the future.”
What’s next
“It’s kind of the preferred conditions for the team, but we didn’t deliver as much as we could,” said strategist Jana Germani, looking ahead to the light-air events at the end of the season. “For sure, we are going to be looking into the data and trying to understand what we can do better for the next events. It’s really going to be a light wind game.”
That closes the European chapter of Season 6. After a long run of racing across two continents, Season 6 now moves to the Gulf: Dubai stages event twelve, and Abu Dhabi closes the season at the end of November with the Grand Final, where the season six title is settled.
Fact sheet
- Event: Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix
- Venue: Lake Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Date: 19–20 September 2026
- Round: 11 of 13, Season 6, Rolex SailGP Championship
- Format: Fleet split into two groups; Red Bull Italy SailGP Team raced in Group B, alongside Bonds Flying Roos, Emirates GBR, Black Foils, Northstar Canada, Explora Swiss
- Fleet races: 5
- Saturday finishes: 3rd, 6th, 5th
- Sunday finishes: 4th, 3rd
- Best result: 3rd (race one and race five)
- Geneva winner: Los Gallos (ESP), Diego Botín; BONDS Flying Roos (AUS) second
- How light it was: Breeze of roughly 6–14 km/h across the weekend, crews cut to four per boat with the grinders moved to the chase boats
- Break before racing resumes: Six weeks, with the boats and event infrastructure shipped to the Middle East
- Event twelve: Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by DP World, 21–22 November 2026
- Event thirteen: Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2026 Season Grand Final presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, 28–29 November 2026, at Emirates Palace – a USD $2 million winner-takes-all finale between the top three teams
About the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team
Red Bull Italy SailGP Team represents a new generation of high-performance sailing: fast, fearless, and forward-looking. Making its debut in the 2024–25 SailGP season, the team aims to push boundaries, inspire, and redefine the sport by uniting Italy’s finest sailing talent with international expertise. At the helm is Phil Robertson, SailGP Champion and one of the sport’s most dynamic athletes. Alongside him, sailing legend Jimmy Spithill leads as CEO and co-owner, bringing unmatched experience and vision. The ownership group, led by Assia Grazioli Venier and Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, combines entrepreneurial innovation and global perspective in a bold new chapter for Italian sailing.
About SailGP
SailGP is widely regarded as the most thrilling racing on water, redefining the boundaries of modern sailing. The Rolex SailGP Championship is a global annual league that visits iconic cities around the world. Thirteen national teams – featuring some of the best athletes in the sport – compete on identical 50-foot foiling catamarans capable of exceeding 100 km/h and literally sailing faster than the wind. SailGP combines sport and entertainment through its “stadium racing” format, with courses set close to shore to deliver a unique, high-adrenaline experience just metres from the action.
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