“His input is invaluable” - Vowles on Fry

Six months have passed since Pat Fry first walked through the doors at Grove as our Chief Technical Officer.

Fry formed a key part of our structure as we look to the future and continue with the aim of returning to the top end of the field in Formula 1.

Speaking on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict, presented by Kraken, our Team Principal was asked what Pat’s role currently entails.

“It has been fantastic having Pat on board,” James Vowles began, adding: “It allows us to have more than one person have their eyes on what issues we have today, and where we want to be in one year, three years and five years from now.

“Because that’s the time period required, that’s the plan we set out from the beginning. This isn’t going to be fixed overnight, it will be a long journey and this is what it looks like.”

Pat is no stranger to success, having played an instrumental role in securing 66 Grand Prix wins, one Constructors' Championship victory, and three Drivers' Championships during his time at McLaren.

It’s this experience that James is looking to tap into as we take the next steps on his road back to the front.

“What Pat is very good at is looking at the long-term future, where we need to get to and then the milestones that we have to hit on the way there,” James explained.

“He knows what excellence looks like. He was a part of a number of teams that have clawed themselves into a successful position and he knows how to effectively create the foundations to get there.

“We have a lot to do. Day to day, what Pat’s looking at is what we are doing to make sure that we go from just a one-car programme to three-car programmes.

“How do we structure ourselves in the design office? But also, how do we work with operations in order to get the time it takes from an idea to the track to reduce significantly?”

These aren’t the only questions that Pat’s tasked with answering, as James continued: “What facilities do we need? How do we bring everyone together? What ideas are being captured and are they being worked on in the right way? How should aero work together the the design office?

“All of these are, sort of, global questions, and long-term and mid-term questions that we’re dealing with.

“So his input is invaluable and it’s one around not what we do necessarily short-term, how we bring performance, for example how we would bring performance to Imola.

“But more around how we create structures, processes and systems that allow us to get more and more for every hour that we’re working and that, in turn, will have big impacts on what we do with the [FW]47, [FW]48 and beyond.”

To find out more about what was discussed on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict, tune in below or catch up with the rest from 2024.