Formula 1
Fry: Williams F1 team has to develop 'winning mindset'
Incoming Williams Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry says he wants the Formula 1 team to develop a winning mindset as part of its long-term rebuild.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Dec 13, 2023, 3:10 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Williams owner Dorilton Capital is investing to restore the Grove team to its former glory, with long-time Mercedes man James Vowles brought in to oversee the revamp as its new team principal for 2023.
After identifying the squad's key weaknesses, Vowles brought in former Benetton, McLaren and Ferrari stalwart Fry from Alpine to become the team's CTO.
Fry joined after feeling there was no desire at the Enstone squad to progress beyond the top four, but he was convinced by Vowles and the team's investors that they would be willing to do whatever necessary to complete Williams' journey back to the front.
He says that while Williams still has a long way to go, it must already start to develop a winning mentality.
"The ultimate goal in the end is to be a championship competitor," said Fry, who started at Williams on 1 November.
"In 2-3-4 years time, we need to be getting in the fight, breaking into the top three. It's a tough ask to do when you're building from where we are, but I think it's all possible.
"I guess having worked with Ron [Dennis] and [the mantra that] second is the first of the losers, having worked at Ferrari for five years where you celebrate winning but nothing else, I'm kind of tainted in that way. So, we need to build this space back to be a winning team.
"In a team that's been underfunded, you end up with individual systems in each place and you're building on a company without an overall vision. And the first thing is, what's the overall vision?
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Alex Albon, Williams FW45
"So, it starts with whatever, 'win the championship in five years'. Then below that we've got to put the tools in place. We've got to develop the people, we've got to develop the mindset. I guess it's easy to map out and hard to do."
In his role as CTO, a similar position to that which he held at Alpine, Fry will be responsible for strategically planning out Williams' long-term technical requirements in each department.
"The first thing I'm doing is [answering] what tools and technology we need in five years time," he explained. "You've got to think that far ahead, because a lot of this stuff takes you that long to put in place.
"I've already been having those sort of conversations with the various managers of the departments, so it's good to get their idea of where we are, where we need to get to and then try and pull everything together.
"It's going to be a collective decision of where we actually need to get to and what we actually need."
Williams finished the 2023 season in seventh place after resisting a late challenge from AlphaTauri.
Read Also:
Formula 1Madrid F1 project still lacking key steps, says FIA
Formula 1Sainz: Singapore F1 win proves Ferrari can deliver under pressure
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Madrid F1 project still lacking key steps, says FIA
Next article Why Alpine changed an F1 team that was "not daring" enough
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicence quest continues
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
14 h
Colton Herta to run Cadillac FP1 in Brazil as FIA superlicence quest continues
Rafael Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
16 h
Rafael Camara to debut in F1 Brazil GP as Esteban Ocon out at Haas
Latest news
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Why Daniel Ricciardo is staying away from the F1 paddock
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Formula 1
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Esteban Ocon's F1 career may be ending, but his story is one of success
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Esteban Ocon's F1 career may be ending, but his story is one of success
“We let him down” – Mercedes takes blame for George Russell’s Mexico GP heartbreak
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
3 h
“We let him down” – Mercedes takes blame for George Russell’s Mexico GP heartbreak
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe