The arrival of Pat Fry as chief technical officer has been “massively important” for Williams, according to team principal James Vowles.
Fry was signed from Alpine earlier this year, starting work at Grove in November and attending races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi as he assesses the team’s current working set-up. As the headline signing under Vowles’ leadership so far, the Williams boss says Fry brings crucial knowledge of what the team will need to climb further up the grid.
“It’s massively important. It’s not so much about the experience in the field – what it’s about for me is that he’s seen excellence and he understands what excellence looks like,” Vowles told RACER. “He’s also someone that has a very similar philosophy to me, which is that you invest in people, you invest in culture, you invest in systems, you invest in structure.
“There’s no such thing as a shortcut, they do not exist. You look for those and you’re going to get bitten by it pretty quickly. It’s about investing properly and don’t worry about the returns. It could take several years, but he has my support and the support of the board that we will get there together at the same time.