Formula One News: Pat Fry leaves Team McLaren to join Ferrari
When it comes to money, some people might think that it could not buy everything. But actually, it can buy a lot. Talented people who can drive a car also fall in the same category that money can pull. This time, it is Pat Fry from McLaren who was magnetised by Ferrari. Fry had been the chief engineer for Team McLaren who had been in the field of auto sports for the past two decades. The forty-six-year old man was made the charge of the 2011 car for the McLaren team but things have come to grinding halt.
His demand in the racing world has kept mounting immensely over the years however Team McLaren was able to keep him glued with them for a long time. It had been seventeen years that the two had happily walked together. Both Fry and McLaren had witnessed a lot of ups and downs during this period.
The news of his departure was out in the media for a couple of weeks now but nothing was confirmed so far. There were also rumours that the skilful man had been in demand by a number of Formula One teams including Mercedes GP, Red Bull and Force India. However, as per reports, the money offered by Ferrari was the decisive factor for the engineer.
Talking about the departure of Fry, the Team Principal of McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh said that he had been very instrumental and helpful for the team over the years and his contribution to the team could never be denied. He told that it had been a very long time that he had been with the team. However, he added that his move is a good professional one and after being with the same time for such a long time, he needed some break as well.
Martin also said very clearly that his decision would not affect the team’s performance as the team consists of many talented and skilful people who would be happy to take his place. He also said that probably some fresh and young blood would also be a good option of them. He commented that McLaren is a team that has a big bunch of very capable people and as a team one person’s absence could not harm their performance. While discussing his team, Martin expressed that all the people in the team; no matter how old or experienced can always be replaced. As per him, the market is filled with people who are hungry and striving to get an opportunity to prove their skills.
Earlier reports had suggested that Fry had signed the contract for the 2011 season with Ferrari. He would be joining the team from the 1st of July this year and the final announcement has been made today.
Pat fry has successfully taken a large number of engineering courses along with a day release course at the City Of London Polytechnic. His love for building suspension system for motor bikes took him to Formula One’s team of Research and Development department. In the year 1992, he was made the race engineer for British racer Martin Brundle. Next year, he joined McLaren where he was working till date. Fry was a race engineer for Mika Häkkinen in 1995. Later in 1997, Pat Fry had his contract renewed with McLaren, becoming the race engineer for David Coulthard, the job that he continued for four years.
The year 2001 brought him some new responsibilities as he was asked for a tactical coordinating role, keeping check of both the McLaren cars. His hard work and exceptional skills kept him growing with the team and in the year 2002, Pat was promoted to the position of Chief Engineer of Race Development where he was handed the responsibility of the MP4-20, MP4-22 and MP4-24 race cars.
After his consistently rising graph at McLaren, the engineer finally moved to Ferrari and everybody hopes that he would prove to be an asset for the Ferrari team as well.
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