Fry returns to McLaren as engineering director

The McLaren Formula 1 team has rehired its former engineering chief Pat Fry to bolster the team’s technical department.

Fry previously worked for McLaren between 1993 until 2010, before spells as deputy technical director at Ferrari and engineering consultant for Manor followed.

McLaren has undergone a series of major changes to its organisation following a difficult 2018 campaign, with racing director Eric Boullier and technical chief Tim Goss among key figures to depart the team.

The signing of Fry follows the Woking squad’s recruitment of Toro Rosso chief designer James Key - whose start date as its new technical director is unconfirmed – as McLaren looks to bounce back from its ongoing struggles.

Fry will begin work in his new role at McLaren with immediate effect. 

McLaren chief Zak Brown says Fry will focus his efforts on the team's 2019 F1 car working alongside its reshaped technical management set-up.

"I think we’re in a pretty good place now," Brown said. "Andrea Stella is leading all performance, setting the targets, and Pat as engineering director will ultimately be led by Andrea with Pat the development of next year’s car.

"Then of course there’s lots of people that feed into that. Pete Prodromou from an aero, Mark Ingham and Neil Oatley from design, Simon Roberts the COO ultimately responsible for bringing everything together and Gil [de Ferran] on the sporting side but at the end of the day it’s Andrea and Pat who are going to drive next year’s car."