Pat Fry moving to Ferrari

[Brogan]

According to reports, Pat Fry is moving to Ferrari.

This will be a huge advantage for Ferrari as Fry was in charge of the 2011 McLaren contender before leaving the company in May.

Is this the injection of new blood Ferrari needs to improve their current season?
It will be interesting to see how the Ferrari and McLaren cars compare at the start of the next season.
Is the Ferrari going to contain any elements of the McLaren, albeit heavily disguised/modified?

The reports don't clarify the role or start date but I expect Ferrari are keen to have him on board as soon as possible.
I presume however some kind of clause in his old McLaren contract will necessitate a period of time before he is permitted to work for another team.

 

[MajorDanby]

I'm sure that when Fry left it was suggested that it was because he wanted a new challenge? Myself, probably like a lot of others thought this meant in a different area outside of motor racing, rather than a different team.

As you say Brogan, big advantage for the Ferrari boys, but hopefully for McLaren he left before the ball go rolling quickly on what will be the MP4-26.

We'll have to wait and see just how long it is before he starts work. One thing is for certain Ferrari definitely need some new blood in the team to stop them from falling. Good luck to him I guess

 

[Speshal]

Unless he's not been heavily involved in the development of the 2011 car he should be on gardening leave for a season IMHO

 

[Galahad]

Methinks there is a story here that we don't know about. It would be odd for McLaren to leave such a senior employee contractually free to start work for their main rivals immediately.

Good luck to him anyway. I'm sure there isn't much about next year's McLaren that Ferrari don't already know - and vice versa.

 

[Brogan]

According to the BBC, Pat Fry is the new assistant technical director.

I'm surprised he is allowed to join Ferrari so soon after leaving McLaren.
I wonder if the FIA will be reviewing Ferrari's car for 2011?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8753561.stm

 

[GeoffP]

I don't think they could have stopped him working for Ferrari, restrictive practices would have overruled any non-competition clauses in his contract.

- Besides, he's already given them the manual for the 2009 car without any complaint...