Williams team boss James Vowles admits that the team’s future Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry can’t arrive soon enough in Grove.
Incredibly, Williams has been without a genuine CTO since early 2019, when Paddy Lowe left the British outfit in the wake of a catastrophic winter that led to a costly delay in the development of the team's FW42 car.
In March 2021, as new shareholder Dorilton Capital set about on rebuilding Williams, former Volkswagen technical director FX Demaison was put in charge of the F1 team’s tech department.
But the Frenchman’s tenure – and that of his colleague, former Williams team principal Jost Capito – only lasted until the end of 2022.
When Vowles joined Williams at the start of this year, the Briton - who built his impeccable credentials in F1 during his 13-year residency at Brackley, working for Brawn GP and then Mercedes - began earmarking potential candidates for the role of Chief Technical Officer at Williams.
However, from the outset he made clear that he would take his time to identify and hire the right candidate for the job.
Preliminary discussions with Fry - then Alpine's CTO - led to the latter announcing his departure from Enstone and move to Williams just before the Belgian Grand Prix weekend at the end of July.
On November 1, Fry will assume his position at Williams, much to Vowles’ relief. But the veteran engineer's impact is unlikely to trickle down to the track until 2025.
“Definitely counting down the days [to Fry’s arrival],” Vowles said in Qatar recently. “As much as I have tried my best, I need someone who is far better than me in that role.
“We’ve brought together a really good group of individuals at Williams, and we are working together. In part, I have sadness because I have to start letting go of that side of things.
“With 2024 though, the dye is pretty much set in the direction of travel.
“This chassis will already, by the time he comes through the door, be most of the way produced. It has to be. That’s what the timelines are for these things.
“The aero package again will be most of the way through development, even though it’s going to be for next year.
“But the impact – and I’ve said it all along, I’m not interested in short term, I’m interested in the long term – so he will already in the 2024 season have a positive effect but that real effect will kick in in '25, '26, [2027].”
©Williams
Under Vowles leadership, Williams has acquitted itself well this season, with the team currently positioned seventh in F1’s Constructors’ standings, courtesy of Alex Albon’s talent and efforts.
Queried on how his own tenure has unfolded during his maiden campaign at the helm of an F1 outfit, Vowles acknowledged that it has been a year of learning.
“You don’t realise it until questions like this come up, where you think it’s nearly a year,” he said.
“Good. I would say. It’s a role that obviously I had a lot to learn, and I still have a lot to learn, and I would be disappointed if you asked me a question and I say I haven’t learned something new this week.
“But I think it doesn’t take much looking from the outside to realise we are in a good direction of travel. The team has very much embraced me, I feel at home there. I felt at home there after just a few months.
“Which is, to name the extraordinary, to go into a completely new environment after 20 years elsewhere, but yet it feels like home, is a strong indication of how Williams is as an organisation.
“What I am more excited by, and I keep going to the long term, but it’s not the last nine months, I am really excited by a couple of years from now when it properly kicks into gear.”
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