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Quadruple Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie may look to temper his famed aggression on the water in the opening round of SailGP in Sydney

Sailing great Sir Ben Ainslie admits he's a rookie in his latest form of racing and might have to temper his renowned aggression during the opening round of the SailGP series in Sydney.

The quadruple Olympic champion will helm the British team in the expanded seven-boat competition which starts its second season on Friday.

Ainslie, who won the first of his Olympic gold medals in Sydney two decades ago, has enjoyed his initial experiences aboard the F50 catamaran used for the series.

"I'm the rookie in our team," he joked.

While known for his assertive approach on the water, he suggested he would exercise some caution over the two days of racing in Sydney given his lack of time with the boat.

"I could be a little bit careful with controlled aggression ... not throwing it around too much and stitching ourselves up rather than stitching up the opposition," he said.

Ainslie thought defending champions Australia would probably be a step ahead of the other teams given their home advantage.

Skipper Tom Slingsby wasn't feeling nervous about defending the title, but acknowledged there would be more expectations on the Australians in 2020.

"Everyone is up here talking down their chances and how we're the hot favourites, but if you watch the racing you'll see it's anyone's game," he said.

Australia are settled as the only team to retain the same crew from last year's series and Slingsby insisted familiarity would not breed contempt.

"It's definitely not complacency or anything like that," he said.

"We only just won last year over Nathan (Outteridge) and his Japan team so we know we've got to keep improving and keep developing.

Meanwhile, Outteridge heads into the series unsure if he and sister Hayley have secured Australia's Nacra 17 berth at the Tokyo Olympics.

Places in other classes were filled on Thursday but a decision still has to be made in his category, where Australian SailGP crew member and 2016 Olympic silver medallist Jason Waterhouse is another contender.

"The selection process is still ongoing and that's all I can really say at the moment," Outteridge said.