Pat Fry (born 17 March 1964) is a British motorsports engineer. Primarily working in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
, he has previously held positions with the McLaren, Ferrari, Manor Racing, and Benetton teams. As of 2022, Fry is the Chief Technical Officer for the
Alpine F1 Team
Alpine F1 Team, competing as BWT Alpine F1 Team, is a Formula One constructor which made its debut at the start of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. Formerly named Renault F1 Team and owned by the French automotive company Groupe Renault ...
.
Early career
Fry was born in
Shepperton
Shepperton is an urban village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, approximately south west of central London. Shepperton is equidistant between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. After attempting several engineering courses, he became an apprentice at
Thorn EMI
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comic ...
in 1981. While at Thorn EMI, he completed a day-release course in electronics at the
City of London Polytechnic. He moved onto Thorn's missile programmes, before deciding to leave the company in 1987 to pursue a career in motorsport.
Motorsports career
Benetton (1987–1993)
Fry had an interest in building suspension systems for
motorbike
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...
s in his spare time, and joined the
Benetton Formula One
Benetton Formula Ltd., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from to . The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000, the te ...
team's research and development department in
Witney, Oxfordshire
Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...
, who at the time were working on
active suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large sp ...
systems. He moved to the test team and then to the team's Godalming research and development department. He returned to the test team in , before being made
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012.
Brundle contested the 19 ...
's
race engineer
A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off the ...
in .
McLaren (1993–2010)
In , former Benetton colleague
Giorgio Ascanelli
Giorgio Ascanelli (born 23 February 1959) is an Italian automotive engineer who has worked for several years in Formula 1. He is currently the technical head of Brembo, a supplier of Formula 1 brakes.
Career
Ascanelli began his sporting caree ...
persuaded Fry to join him at
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
. His initial position was to work on active suspension systems, and run the McLaren test team, but active suspension systems were banned by the sports governing body before the start of the 1994 season and so Fry moved to an engineering position in the race team. After a season as
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Fo ...
's race engineer in , he returned to the McLaren test team in despite rumours linking him with a move to
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
. He renewed his contract with McLaren in to become
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...
's race engineer, a role he held for four years. He moved to a tactical coordinating role in , overseeing both the team's race cars. In 2002 he was promoted to the role of Chief Engineer of Race Development, and was responsible for the
MP4-20 (
Autosport
''Autosport'' is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship.
Autosport began life as a weekly magazine in 1950 ...
's 2005 Racing Car of the Year),
MP4-22 (Autosport's 2007 Racing Car of the Year) and
MP4-24 chassis.
Ferrari (2010–2014)
Following the 14 May 2010 announcement of his departure from McLaren, came an announcement on 22 June that Fry was to join the Ferrari team as assistant technical director from 1 July. On 4 January 2011 Ferrari announced that Fry had replaced Chris Dyer as head of race track engineering (while retaining his assistant technical director position under
Aldo Costa
Aldo Costa (born 5 June 1961) is an Italian engineer and the Chief Technical Officer at Dallara. With eleven Constructors' Championships, Costa is considered one of the most successful engineers and designers in the category.
Costa was born in Pa ...
). The change was made following a tactical error in the
final race of the 2010 season which cost
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
a chance at the title. On 24 May 2011, Aldo Costa was moved to an undefined position within the team and Fry was given the job as ''director of chassis'', with the position of ''technical director'' being removed outright. Restructuring of Ferrari management made Fry's position one of three—the others being ''production director'' (filled by
Corrado Lanzone Corrado may refer to:
Places
* Anticoli Corrado, comune in the City of Rome
* Monte Vidon Corrado, comune in the Province of Fermo People Given name
*See Corrado (given name) Surname
* Andrea Corrado (1873-1963), Italian ship owner
* Andrea Di Co ...
) and ''electronics director'' (filled by
Luca Marmorini Luca Marmorini (born 17 June 1961) is the former head of the engine and electronics department at the Ferrari Formula One team.
Marmorini started his Formula One career with Ferrari in , which he joined after completing a mechanical doctorate. He ...
)--to report directly to team boss Domenicali, who assumed the duties (if not the title) of ''technical director''.
On 23 July 2013 Ferrari announced that Lotus technical director
James Allison would take over as ''chassis technical director'' as of 1 September; Fry will remain with Ferrari as ''director of engineering ''(a newly created position) and continue to report directly to Domenicali alongside Allison and chief designer
Nikolas Tombazis. Ferrari said Fry would leave the team in a restructuring announced 16 December 2014.
Manor Racing (2016–2017)
In January 2016, Fry joined
Manor Racing
Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 un ...
as engineering consultant.
McLaren (2018–2019)
On 4 September 2018 McLaren announced Fry would join the team as ''engineering director'' in a temporary capacity, while awaiting the arrival of full-time technical director
James Key from gardening leave at
Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Re ...
. Fry led the team in the process of developing the
2019 car. In July 2019 it was reported Fry had gone on gardening leave at the culmination of his temporary assignment.
Renault/Alpine (2020–)
On 2 November 2019, the Renault F1 Team announced that Fry would join the team for the 2020 season. Renault F1 Team was rebranded as Alpine F1 Team for the 2021 season. Before the
2022 season, Alpine named Fry as their Chief Technical Officer. He will oversee all technical activities, set performance targets, and identify future technologies for the car.
Personal life
On 20 April 2002, Fry married Kate Habershon, a food editor and stylist who had worked in motorsport catering.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Pat
Living people
1964 births
Formula One people
English motorsport people
Ferrari people
Benetton Formula
Renault people