Pat Fry dreams of a manufacturers’ podium for Williams
Williams' new technical director, Pat Fry, said he wanted the Grove team to develop a winning mindset as part of its long-term rebuild.
The owner of Williams, Dorilton Capital, is investing to restore the Grove team to its former glory, with James Vowles, a long-time member of Mercedes, appointed to oversee the overhaul as the new team principal for 2023.
After identifying the main weaknesses of the team, Vowles recruited Fry, former pillar of Benetton, McLaren and Alpine Ferrari, to become the team’s CTO.
Fry joined the Grove team after feeling that there was no palpable desire within Alpine to progress beyond the Top 4, but he was convinced by Vowles and the team’s investors that they would be willing to do whatever it takes to finish Williams’ journey towards the front.
He says that even though Williams still has a long way to go, she must already begin to develop a winning mentality. « Ultimately, the ultimate goal is to be a championship contender », stated Fry, who started at Williams on November 1st.
« In two to four years, we will have to fight and enter the Top 3. It’s a challenging task to accomplish when starting from where we are, but I believe anything is possible ».
« I suppose that after working with Ron Dennis and the mantra that second is the first of losers, after working at Ferrari for five years where victory is celebrated but nothing else, I am somewhat tainted in this way. So, we have to rebuild this atmosphere to become a winning team ».
« In an underfunded team, you find yourself with individual systems in each location and you build on a company without a global vision. And the first thing is: what is the overall vision? It starts with “winning the championship in five years”. Then, we need to put the tools in place. We need to advance the people, we need to develop the mindset. I suppose that is easy to envision and difficult to do ».
In his role as technical director, a position similar to the one he held at Alpine, Fry will be responsible for the strategic planning of Williams’ long-term technical requirements in each department.
« The first thing I do is determine what tools and technologies we will need in five years. It is necessary to think that far ahead because many of these things take a lot of time to set up. […] I have already had these kinds of conversations with the different department heads, so it’s good to have an idea of where we are, where we need to go, and then try to bring everything together. »
« It will be a collective decision to determine where we really need to go and what we really need ».
