Ferrari confirms recruitment of Pat Fry
As had been anticipated, Ferrari has confirmed that highly-respected former McLaren chief engineer Pat Fry is to join the Scuderia in the capacity of assistant technical director.
Fry will work under technical director Aldo Costa, but whilst the Englishman's appointment had been expected to take effect from the 2011 F1 campaign, he will in fact begin his new role at Maranello from as soon as 1 July, meaning he will in all likelihood be able to have a significant input into the design of next year's car.
Fry spent the best part of two decades at McLaren, having entered the sport with a background in electronics engineering and missile technology before going on to engineer current BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle at Benetton in 1992. During his 18 years spent at Woking, the 46-year-old acted as race engineer to both double world champion Mika Hakkinen and 13-time grand prix-winner David Coulthard, and subsequently progressed to take charge of both of the team's cars.
As such, he will take a wealth of invaluable expertise with him to his new employer, including detailed knowledge of the initial design phases of next season's McLaren, with which he had been heavily involved prior to his departure from the ultra-successful British outfit earlier this year. Fry will join fellow English-language natives Rob Smedley and Chris Dyer in the upper hierarchy of the Prancing Horse's race team.
