Amidst a change of guard within McLaren, the team has announced Pat Fry to be returning to its fold after last working with them in 2010.
The 54-year-old’s last assignment was with Manor in 2016 as an engineering consultant before the team folded up leaving Fry with no job in F1. After two years out of the sport, the Brit returns to join his former team.
Fry worked with the Woking-based team between 1993 and 2010 when he worked in multiple roles after starting his career in 1987 with Benetton. Post his McLaren stint, Fry joined Ferrari between 2010 and 2014.
However, with Ferrari hiring James Allison and further restructuring of the team for 2015, Fry lost his place at the end of the 2014 season after which he had a break before returning in 2016 with Manor.
Fry joins as the Engineering Director and will work on the 2019 car as the team eyes a breakthrough with their new drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. Fry’s experience will be immense for the struggling team.
McLaren is hopeful that it can get James Key from Toro Rosso as soon as possible whom they announced as its Technical Director before entering in a spat with the Red Bull junior team who insists that Key remains part of the Faenza-based team.
However, since the announcement from McLarem, Key’s presence in the grand prix events has been minimum as reports suggests that Red Bull has asked a steep price for them to release Key from his existing contract to the British team.
McLaren’s struggles has had a big impact with racing director Eric Boullier, technical chief Tim Goss and engineering chief Matt Morris no longer with the squad, while its current drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne will leave at the end of 2018 as well.