Pat Fry and Kevin Eason join Marc Priestley for this week's F1 Report - first on air on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday
Monday 29 May 2017 08:32, UK
A shift away from 'short-termism' and improved simulation tools are the cause of Ferrari's resurgence, according to the Scuderia's former technical chief Pat Fry.
Fry filled the roles of assistant technical director and head of engineering during a five-year spell with the Scuderia between 2010 and 2014.
And the Englishman, a guest on the Monaco Preview F1 Report, believes the team's upgraded technical infrastructure has been pivotal in a revival which has seen the Scuderia win two of the opening five races of the year as they bid to end a decade-long title drought.
"Every F1 team is under a huge amount of pressure [but] at Ferrari, winning is the only thing. I think the way that affected the company was that there was a massive drive for 'now' - the next race - and instant success," said Fry.
"And what that means is that the organisation veers off to look at very short-term things. When I joined in 2010, there were quite a lot of things that were eight to 10 years out of date which we needed to fix. And these weren't quick fixes: it took just six months to work out what was wrong with the wind tunnel, and then another 18 months to fix it."
Ferrari appeared to steal a march on their rivals at the start of the year when they launched a highly innovative new car, with the SF70-H also armed with eye-catching unique sidepods.
Fry believes the team's return to winning ways is a consequence of the improvements made inside Ferrari's Maranello headquarters - and plenty of hard graft.
"These days, F1 is a battle which is won in simulation," explained the Englishman. "Ferrari's simulation tools were years behind and that was a five-year project to fix. At the beginning of last year, the simulator tools were getting to where they should have been.
"They work massively hard. The drive and passion is just fantastic - and it's good to see it all paying off."
