Pat Fry is a British Formula 1 engineer and the Chief Technical Officer of Williams Racing, a role he took up on 1 November 2023. With more than 35 years at the top of the sport, he is one of F1's most experienced technical leaders. ^{1 2}

He was born 17 March 1964 in Shepperton, Surrey, attended Brooklands and Richmond upon Thames colleges, and began as an apprentice at Thorn EMI in 1981, completing electronics coursework via day-release at the City of London Polytechnic while working on missile programmes before pursuing motorsport. ¹

“With more than 35 years at the top of the sport, he is one of F1's most experienced technical leaders.”

Early career at Benetton

Fry entered F1 with Benetton in 1987, joining its research-and-development department working on active suspension — an interest he traced to motorcycle suspension work — and became Martin Brundle's race engineer in 1992. ¹

McLaren

In 1993 he joined McLaren, where he would spend 17 years. After the 1994 ban on active suspension he moved into race engineering, serving as race engineer to Mika Hakkinen and then David Coulthard, before being promoted in 2002 to chief engineer of race development, overseeing championship-contending chassis including the MP4-20, MP4-22 and MP4-24 — the MP4-20 and MP4-22 both named Autosport's Racing Car of the Year. His McLaren period is credited with contributing to dozens of Grand Prix wins and multiple titles. ^{1 2}

Ferrari

Fry moved to Ferrari in 2010 as assistant technical director, then took over as head of race track engineering in early 2011, before rising to director of chassis and ultimately Director of Engineering in 2013 — a senior role during a period when Ferrari fought at the front. Ferrari announced his departure at the end of 2014. ^{1 2}

Later roles and Williams

After Ferrari he worked as an engineering consultant at Manor Racing (2016), returned briefly to McLaren (2018–2019) as engineering director to help develop the MCL34, then joined Renault in 2020 as chassis technical director, becoming Chief Technical Officer of Alpine before the 2022 season. In 2023 he joined Williams as CTO, succeeding Francois-Xavier Demaison, with James Vowles framing the hire as strengthening the team's technical capabilities "as we build the next chapter." ^{1 2 3}

Remit at Williams

At Williams, Fry leads the technical organisation, setting performance targets and driving the car-design and engineering work central to the team's climb to fifth in the 2025 Constructors' Championship and its preparation for the sweeping 2026 chassis and power-unit regulations. His decades of front-running experience make him a cornerstone of the rebuild. ^{2 3}

Bottom line

Fry is a veteran technical hand whose career spans the most successful eras of McLaren and Ferrari; at Williams he provides the engineering leadership underpinning Vowles' long-term rebuild. ^{1 2}