Grapevine: America's Cup team seek Ferrari link

Ernesto Bertarelli made the suggestion after attending last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

He already has a close relationship with senior Ferrari and Fiat personnel, and believes there is plenty of ground for collaboration between his America's Cup operation and the Formula One champions.

"(Luca di) Montezemolo is my neighbour in Rome, and I'm friends with (Fiat CEO) Sergio Marchionne and (Fiat vice president) John Elkann," Bertarelli told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I was pleased to see Ferrari winning.

"F1 and the America's Cup have a lot in common, from the technology to the organisation. I noticed that there's a debriefing too, after a GP, just like we do at the end of the regattas. The difference is that we are 17 on the yacht, while in the car there's just one driver.

"I would like (a collaboration with Ferrari) because the next America's Cup will be held with multi-hulls, so if there was an F1 engineer wanting to design a boat, this would be the right time to do it.

"On top of that, we could create some synergies with a flow of information going from one side to the other, and this would be interesting for both the Scuderia and ourselves."

Team Alinghi have won the last two America's Cups, taking victory at the first attempt in 2003, and then successfully defended their crown four years later.