Buckley: Williams Racing A Great Comparison To U.S. SailGP Team Journey
U.S. SailGP Team CEO and Co-owner Mike Buckley reflects on his trip to the Miami Grand Prix…
Published 05/29/2025
Mike Buckley believes the Atlassian Williams Racing F1 team can provide a useful blueprint for the U.S. SailGP Team, after attending the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.
CEO and Co-owner Mike joined grinder Anna Weis in Florida at the Williams Fan Zone for a mix of pleasure and business – and you’ll be able to see exactly what they got up to in an episode of Full Sail that’s due to be released later this week.
One of the highlights of a packed agenda was Mike’s sit-down chat with Williams Team Principal James Vowles. He got the chance to grill Vowles on a range of topics, both on and off the track, for the inaugural episode of Buckley Meets.
Having witnessed the team’s rise up the grid this season, Mike believes there is synergy between the worlds of high-speed motor racing and sailing – not least because SailGP is referred to as the F1 of the sailing world!
“It was a mix of fun, commercial networking and learning,” Mike said. “We had a great opportunity through our relationships with Red Bull Racing and Williams Racing to observe how F1 teams operate.
“We listened in on their onboard comms during Qualifying and saw how seriously every detail is taken – from the engineers to marketing to hospitality.
“Williams, in particular, is a great comparison to our own journey – they’ve rebuilt their performance from the ground up over the last couple of years. It’s been inspiring to see that turnaround.”
He continued: “JV is incredibly smart and generous with his insights. He’s spent time in sailing through the America’s Cup, so he actually understands and enjoys the sport. We had a great back-and-forth – I'm a big F1 fan and he’s a big SailGP fan.
“What stood out was his mindset. One of my favorite things he said is that in his first two years, from a performance perspective he wanted to ‘break everything’ – because that’s how you learn. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not pushing hard enough. That really resonated with me.”
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