An ex-McLaren arrives at Ferrari

At the beginning of May, while he was already working on the MP4-26, the car McLaren in 2011, Pat Fry decided to leave the Woking stable. A surprising decision for this 46-year-old engineer, who spent a large part of his career (17 years) within the British team. But which is justified in view of the announcement made today by the Team Ferrari.

After working on missiles at Thorn EMI, he started in F1 in 1987 at Benetton as head of active suspensions, working notably with Pat Symonds. He became an engineer with the testing team in 1991, before becoming the track engineer for Martin Brundle's car in 1992.

The following year, Pat Fry arrived at McLaren. After again being responsible for suspensions and the test team for the first two seasons, he became track engineer from 1995 to 2001 (notably working the first season with Mika Hakkinen, then later with David Coulthard) before moving on to Head of racing development from 2002 to 2004. Subsequently, he was entrusted with the MP4-20, MP4-22, MP4-24 programs. Although none of these cars will become world champions, Pat Fry is one of the most sought-after engineers in the paddock.

Scuderia Ferrari currently having difficulty interfering in the duel between McLaren and Red Bull, the leaders of the Italian team went to look for a man whose reputation is well established, and who could already know some of the specificities of next season's McLaren.

Pat Fry should come, from July 1, to support Technical Director Aldo Costa, and should immediately, according to the Italian press, work on the 2011 single-seater.