Williams team boss James Vowles hopes the appointment of Pat Fry to lead its technical department will be a carrot to more prospective staff down the track.
Vowles joined Williams at the start of the year and has made no secret that it is now embarking on a long-term building phase.
That includes not only personnel and facilities, where the rules will allow it, but also transforming the culture and introducing structure and processes in a team that has been heavily underinvested over recent years.
Vowles was a tent pole appointment when he joined from Mercedes, a high-profile signing from the sport’s leading operation over the last decade. It was a signal of intent.
He’s since convinced Fry to follow suit, with the ex-Alpine man also buying into the new Williams vision.
“The first time I spoke to Pat was actually back in January before it officially started with Williams,” Vowles told selected media, including Speedcafe.
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“He was the one I’d highlighted that I really wanted to be within Williams.
“He’s exceptional at coming into organisations that you need someone to pull their sleeves up and properly get stuck into structure and systems.
“There’s different types of [chief technical officers] available to you; there’s ones that are very good at finding your last 10 milliseconds, there’s ones that are very good at putting structures and systems in place, and he’s more the latter.
“He understandably had a journey with Alpine that he wanted to continue but actually, by April, he could see the vision as to why I had joined Williams and was very much in line and on board.”
Fry’s appointment to Williams was confirmed as Alpine announced the sackings of team boss Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane, meaning three of the Enstone operation’s senior staff departed in rapid time.
While the timing was much the same, Fry was already out of the door.
Vowles hopes that the appointment, coupled with his own, tempts others to buy into the journey the team is currently on.
“When people saw that I left the comfort of Mercedes to go to Williams, and now people have seen Pat at a time where Alpine was in a strong place, that’s why I wanted it to be clear, this wasn’t in the last few weeks, this was a long time ago, wanting to join Williams, people will now understand that Williams wants a culture of change,” Volwes explained.
“Once you see two very senior people that have been in the sport for 20 plus years, and winning races, and we want to come here, others will now see why it’s worth that journey.”
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