Sir Ben Ainslie labels New Zealander commentator a ‘f****** w*****’ on live America’s Cup broadcast as Great Britain’s hopes take another hit with Kiwis going 3-0 up

Sir Ben Ainslie is getting angry again. We know what that has tended to mean for his rivals over the years, though it will require more than a few expletives to swing the America’s Cup final back in Britain’s favour.

At 3-0 down to Emirates Team New Zealand, Ainslie and his crew on Ineos Britannia crept closer to a whitewash than a comeback on the second day of racing in this best-of-13 series.

As a snapshot of the frustrations brewing within Ainslie’s mind, witness the exchange he had with a commentator immediately after their heaviest loss yet off the coast of Barcelona.

Ainslie was still in the driver’s seat of his 75-foot yacht when one of the pundits on the official broadcast feed, a New Zealander named Stephen McIvor, asked if he still felt his team was close to their opponents in performance, because ‘I don’t get that feeling coming off your boat’.

At first, the four-time Olympic champion bristled only slightly, saying: ‘Maybe that’s the Kiwi commentator in you, mate.’

Sir Ben Ainslie and his crew on Ineos Britannia crept closer to a whitewash than a comeback

Ainslie watched his side slip 3-0 down to New Zealand and hit out at a Kiwi commentator

Ainslie branded New Zealander commentator Stephen McIvor (pictured) a ‘f****** w*****’

But it was then, with his microphone still on, that Ainslie was heard to mutter: ‘F****** w*****.’

The feeling at dockside was that McIvor’s enquiry had been a little misconstrued as a barb. But the Britannia skipper was in no mood to back down and later added in his press conference: ‘It was a stupid comment from the Kiwi commentator. I think it’s good for our team. I think it’s good motivation.’

He would go on to hint he knew his mic was still live, so perhaps this was a familiar case of the 47-year-old trying to access his higher gears through rage. It has certainly been a theme of his magnificent career, most notably at London 2012, when he gave his now-famous speech: ‘They’ve made me angry and you don’t want to make me angry.’

That sparked one of his many great comebacks, but it is doubtful whether squabbles with commentators will have such a profound effect here. Indeed, this was another race that only served to highlight the superiority of Pete Burling’s New Zealand crew through the first half of their showdown.

The key moment came before the start. As with Saturday’s opening race, when an onboard battery went into ‘meltdown’ on the British boat, Britannia was in trouble before even crossing the line, this time because of a penalty called against Ainslie in the dial-up for not giving way when the yachts came within inches of a collision.

Ainslie’s team now need a remarkable comeback to keep their America’s Cup hopes alive

The near-miss was thrilling to watch and also a feather in the cap for Burling – he laid a trap for Ainslie and snared him. With a 75-metre penalty called, New Zealand’s covering tactics did the rest in a hefty 52-second victory.

At one juncture the defending champions were a full 700m ahead, built on smoother manoeuvres and an apparent boat-speed advantage when sailing upwind in the light airs that have dominated the first two days.

British ambitions might now rely on the forecast of stronger breezes later in the week, which are seen as a better fit for their yacht.

Ainslie, who viewed the decisive penalty incident as a ’50-50’ call, is now targeting a fresh start for his team, commencing with the rescheduled fourth race on Monday after Sunday’s second duel was postponed due to light wind.

He said: ‘I think it’s probably time for a bit of a reset in terms of our approach to how we’ve been sailing, how we’ve been approaching the racing, and trying to find some more performance in the boat. Again, I’m confident that we can do that.

‘We always knew it was going to be tough coming into this. It’s the ultimate fight and so it’s proven to be.’