SailGP: Northstar Mostly Tanks in Sydney
March 12, 2026
Since the team changed its name officially to Northstar and changed drivers from Phil Robertson to Giles Scott, results have been less than overwhelming. There are certainly other factors, but Sydney’s low-end result was illustrative of where the team is at currently well into the 2026 season.
Historically, Sydney has offered up intense weather conditions and mixed luck for the team. In Season 3, the Southerly Buster came through and decimated the team’s new F50 which had been christened just days before, then in Season 4, an electronics malfunction meant a whole day of racing was lost.
In Season 5, things improved for the Canadian team which qualified for the final and finished a very close second overall, just seconds behind Emirates GBR. However, this weekend, Driver Giles Scott and the NorthStar crew struggled, placing 11th, 11th, 8th, 8th, 11th, 10th and wrapping up the final fleet race with a 3rd to finish 11th overall.
“We’re obviously bitterly disappointed and hoped to be doing much better than we are right now. There’s quite a bit to look at and a bit of a turnaround that is needed. But we’ve got to keep our heads screwed on. It’s a long season. We haven’t had a great start, but now it’s about trying to get whatever we can out of it. We’ll come out again in Rio, take a swing at it and attack it. We know we’re capable of getting good results. We just haven’t done it lately,” says Scott.
On top of that, after racing, the team was also notified by the jury that there has been a report from the Tech Team regarding NorthStar’s contact with Germany in Race 5 and Sweden in Race 7. The jury has scheduled hearings in the coming days and the decision could result in penalty points being applied.
-JM
