PAT FRY

Chief Engineer MP4-24, McLaren Racing

Pat Fry, born 17th March 1964, began his career in engineering in 1981 as an apprentice with Thorn EMI which saw him progressing to work with their missile programmes. Having spent time designing suspension systems for motorbikes in his free time he decided to look to motorsport for a career and joined the Benetton Formula 1 team in 1987, initially setting up their electronics departments and then working with their active suspension system. He moved to the Research and Development team before becoming a test team engineer in 1991 and a race engineer in 1992. In 1993 he joined McLaren to develop the active suspension car and run the test team, moving to race engineering in 1995. In 2002 he was promoted to the role of Chief Engineer Race Development. Following a successful stint as Chief Engineer for the MP4-22, Pat now moves his attention to the specification, research, risk management and development of the 2009 challenger the MP4-24.