Martine Grael and the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team delivered the performance of their season at the most critical moment, taking a perfect start, threading cleanly through the first gate, and holding their position all the way to the finish. In an 18 km/h breeze across a rolling Atlantic swell, the Brazilians found both rhythm and pace while the rest of the fleet chased wind pressure, turning what could have been a tense final fleet race into a controlled, authoritative victory.
"It's just incredible," Grael said afterwards. "We've been building and learning every race. Today, everything clicked."
Quentin Delapierre's France continued their weekend resurgence to take second, crossing the line just eight seconds behind. Giles Scott's NorthStar crew rounded out the podium with Canada's first top-three finish since Sydney.
The same race brought misery for several title contenders. Tom Slingsby's Australia endured a nightmare opening, collecting two penalties within minutes of the start and tumbling to ninth by the finish. Italy found themselves in similarly dire straits shortly after, picking up penalties of their own.
New Zealand's Black Foils, fighting to protect their Grand Final position, looked capable of doing so before losing flight through Gate 3. That single stumble sent them sliding from fifth to eighth, a damaging loss of points in a competition where margins are ruthlessly thin.
"We just fell off the foils at the worst time," helm Peter Burling admitted after racing. "But that's SailGP — you've got to stay patient and trust the breeze will come back."
If New Zealand's afternoon was painful, Denmark's was heartbreaking. Nicolai Sehested's Rockwool Denmark had arrived at the race sitting fourth overall and seemingly on track for a Grand Final berth, holding a position that would have kept that dream alive, when a mistimed tack on the final leg dragged them off the foils. By the time they recovered, the damage was done.
Erik Heil's Germany by Deutsche Bank had already crossed the line in fifth, a result that was enough to seal the Germans' place among the final three teams.
"It's brutal," Sehested said on comms, the frustration audible. "One mistake and you're done."
Heil took a measured view of his team's performance. "We just needed a clean race — and we got it," he told media afterwards. "No risks, no drama, just solid racing."
Fleet Race 7 concluded with Mubadala Brazil first on 10 points, France second on 9, NorthStar (Canada) third on 8, United States fourth on 7, Germany by Deutsche Bank fifth on 6, Emirates GBR sixth on 5, Los Gallos seventh on 4, Black Foils eighth on 3, BONDS Flying Roos ninth on 2, Red Bull Italy tenth on 1, Switzerland eleventh on 0, and ROCKWOOL Racing (Denmark) twelfth on 0.
Once the weekend's points were tallied, Emirates GBR led the overall standings on 49 points, with Germany by Deutsche Bank moving into second on 44 and Black Foils scraping through to third on 42, a single point clear of ROCKWOOL Racing. Spain's Diego Botín and Los Gallos closed out their home-water campaign fifth overall, while France climbed to sixth on the back of a strong weekend turnaround.
