Canada driver Phil Robertson has warned the high wind conditions of upcoming SailGP events will be a ‘reality check’ for the F50 fleet after dissecting the light air event of Abu Dhabi.
Looking back on SailGP’s first visit to the UAE capital during Canada’s debrief, Robertson said the light air conditions create ‘Micky Mouse racing - it’s open to anyone, that’s the reality’.
“The teams who are the least experienced did really well,” he said. “To do well in this stuff, not a lot has to go your way.”
He pointed to Australia’s ultimate 7th place finish despite being 2 points off the Final and Canada’s 6th place finish despite finishing 1 point off the Final.
Despite this, he pointed to Canada ‘closing points’ on the top three as ‘a huge positive’. “You’ve just got to keep closing points and make sure you’re within striking distance when it really matters,” he said.
He added that Canada continues to ‘get better every weekend’ while teams higher up the leaderboard are ‘getting worse’.
Looking ahead to the second half of Season 4, he said: “I’m especially looking forward to Sydney because we have done a lot of light air sailing in the last four or five events and Sydney is going to be a reality check.”
