Good points. Without the gennaker, the M32 could be sailed with half the crew. And also wouldn't need the gennaker pole/structure, and weight. I see what you are saying.
It seems though that the speed increase downwind is significant with a gennaker. Without the gennaker, in 10 knots of wind, the M32 will get 15 knots of boat speed upwind at 45°. And downwind at 135°, speed is the same, 15 knots. With the gennaker up, speed increases to almost 25 knots.
But maybe you are right, that a lighter boat, with less complex controls, will generally be faster, and that compensates for less downwind speed.
Gybing with the M32 looks very intense. There is one guy helming. One guy trimming the main/traveler. Two guys cooperating to furl and trim the gennaker. I think the gennaker is too big to just sheet to the other side during the gybe. It needs to be (partly) furled and then unfurled on the other side during the maneuver. One of the guys also has to lift/drop the foils during this. There are videos of boats capsizing when gybing. I also saw some boats having trouble when rounding the bottom mark, and turning upwind. If the furl failed, they had to unfurl/furl while sailing upwind.
The gybe is fast. But tacking with the M32 didn't look fast. The boat almost stopped completely. Out of 100 tacks, a few looked good. Because the boat kept it's speed. Those were recognized by the commentators, and the helmsman interviewed after the race. It had to do with turning radius, sheeting at the right time, and weight transfer at the right time. If synchronized, the boat went from flying one hull to flying the other. But generally, a tack didn't look much faster then a shunt.