Pat Fry: We shouldn’t be afraid to take risks

In 2023, the Williams team showed its best result in the last six years, finishing 7th in the Constructors’ Championship. But relatively recently, in 2014 and 2015, it was in third place, but then the results began to deteriorate, a prolonged period of crisis began, and only now, after a change of owners, and then management, things are gradually beginning to improve.

James Vowles became the new team leader at the beginning of 2023 and, with the support of the new owners of Williams Racing from the American investment fund Dorilton Capital, implemented the necessary reforms – modernizing the infrastructure, modernizing the equipment fleet and strengthening the workforce. One of the important appointments was the invitation of Pat Fry for the position of technical director.

Fry is an experienced specialist whose career in Formula 1 began in the late 1980s, working for teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine. He started his duties at Williams at the end of November and it is clear that he has spent the first two months closely reviewing and analyzing the situation. In an interview with the championship’s official website, the 59-year-old Briton spoke about his first steps in his new role and what he hopes to achieve in the future.

Pat Fry: “Trying to understand how we work, what we do well and what needs to be done. Some things are better organized here than in the teams I was previously in, but there are also quite a lot of things that need to be arranged and resolved. But for now I’m trying to get a first idea of ​​the state of play, and then I’ll have to set a strategic task for the team…

I want Williams to win races. Wins are the most important. At Alpine we lacked the determination to get above 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship. We may have said we could do it, but management never tried to push harder to achieve more, so in March I decided I had done all I could with that team and started looking for another job.

James Vowles started making persistent offers to me some time ago, and now wonderful opportunities are opening up for me. In the first weeks of work I always try to write down my first impressions. They often turn out to be right, but then I have to understand why things happened this way. You have to get to the heart of something, and it often turns out that correcting the situation requires long-term planning.

I am impressed with how well the Williams team has performed in 2023, helped of course by better communication between the divisions, between engineers and aerodynamicists. This already looks encouraging. The end result depends on how well everyone does their job, but the team has largely achieved its potential and this is already a good step forward.

Now we have to be patient. Some of the specialists we invite to Williams are on holiday for six months, others for a year, but I think we are working on an interesting project. That’s why I try to fascinate and convince people to join us.

There are no restrictions here that have held us back at Alpine, this is not a problem here and the company’s board supports us. They are willing to invest and want to do things right. Next year we will take another step forward, but I plan for the longer term. We have to imagine how everything will develop in the period of three to five years.

We should not be afraid to make decisions, we should not be afraid to take risks. Often the difference between first and second place depends only on how bold decisions you can make. These may be related to wind tunnel work, technical services or how quickly you can act.

It is necessary to create an environment where people are willing to take risks and failures should not be seen as problems. We learn from failures. When you try to achieve something, but it doesn’t work out, you gain experience and knowledge. Creating such an environment takes time, but we have to create it in such a way that the team is not afraid to take risks.”