McLaren have confirmed that Pat Fry, one of the Woking based teams chief engineers, has left the team after seventeen years.
Fry initially worked for Benetton between 1987 and 1992 where he held the position of race engineer and test team engineer. He left Benetton for McLaren in 1993 to develop their active car before moving into engineering in 1995. In 2002 he finally took the position of chief engineer alongside Tim Goss.
The two alternate the role as lead designers, Fry developed the MP4-24 which disappointed before he developed it into a race winner, whilst Goss has developed the current 2010 car (MP4-25).
He was responsible for researching and developing the MP4-26 for 2011. That position will now be taken over by a ‘younger’ and ‘hungrier’ engineer according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
“I think it was probably good for him, the right decision for him to take a bit of a break, take a breather,” said Whitmarsh in Thursday’s FIA press conference.
“I think he’s worked very hard for the team for a number of years. Within our team, then, I think we’ve got quite a bit of a talent and depth, so in these situations it’s a great opportunity for someone younger, maybe hungrier, to come along and replace all of us.
“We’re all replaceable. I think the process will be the same but we’ve manned with fresh new engineers.”
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