Williams: Fry understands 'what excellence looks like'

Williams team boss James Vowles has elaborated on why the appointment of Pat Fry as Chief Technical Officer has been “massively important” for the British squad.

Fry announced his decision to leave Alpine and join Williams last summer, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The former Ferrari and McLaren British engineer subsequently assumed his position with his new team on November 1.

Fry immediately initiated his evaluation of Williams’ existing operational structure, reporting to Vowles and providing essential insights into the strategic requirements that will help the Grove-based outfit advance higher up the grid.

Fry's arrival – for which Vowles deserves immense credit – signal a significant step forward for Williams, demonstrating the team's determination to rebuild and reclaim its former glory.

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“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.

“That’s where Williams is, we do need to put in these large, significant, structural steps, not small, short-term fixes. He was at Ferrari and at McLaren, where in both eras he was there they were fighting at the front, so he knows how to do it.”

Williams now has two seasoned F1 veterans – Vowles and Fry – leading its newfound destiny, which augurs well for the team’s future.

Incredibly, Williams had 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.

While that role has now been fulfilled, Vowles says he’s still looking to recruit a proper technical director that will work under Fry’s guidance.

“I think that’s the beauty of the structure we’ve gone for,” Vowles added. “We have a CTO, there’s still a position here for a technical director.

“You’ll see the gap that we’ve just created around that, and actually in that role I think getting someone less experienced and of a different generation is the perfect position to put in there.

“For the time being Pat is completing both roles and completing them successfully, but we do need to fill in that other area in time.”

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