Alpine promote F1 veteran Pat Fry to chief technical officer

The Alpine Formula One team has promoted Briton Pat Fry to the role of chief technical officer, the Enstone-based outfit said on Thursday.

Fry, who joined the Renault-owned squad in February 2020 as their chassis technical director, will now oversee all technical activities at their headquarters.

The team also promoted former engineering director Matt Harman to technical director.

He will be in charge of delivering performance upgrades to the track and will also drive closer collaboration between the team’s Enstone headquarters and their power unit factory in Viry-Chatillon near Paris.

“Pat is one of the most experienced engineers in Formula One, while Matt’s drive and expertise will prove critical in extracting the full potential of our race cars,” said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.

Fry started out in Formula One with Benetton before joining McLaren in 1993, winning world championships with Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton, before joining Ferrari as deputy technical director in 2010.

He returned to McLaren in 2018 for a stint as engineering director before making the switch to Alpine, which then raced as Renault.

Harman joined the Enstone team from dominant Mercedes in 2018.

Formula One is set to embark on a new era in 2022 with new-look cars designed to radically overhauled rules.

Alpine, whose drivers are Spanish double-world champion Fernando Alonso and Frenchman Esteban Ocon, finished fifth in the overall standings last year after returning to the top step of the podium and are hoping to move up the field this season.

They are expected to sign former Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer as their new team boss, having parted ways with Marcin Budkowski last month.

The team have been set a target to fight for the world championship within 100 races of their rebranding as Alpine in 2021.

Alpine will unveil their 2022 challenger on February 21 before the record 23-race season gets under way in Bahrain on March 20.