diffuser wrote: ↑15 Aug 2023, 06:58
FW17 wrote: ↑15 Aug 2023, 03:27
diffuser wrote: ↑14 Aug 2023, 21:20
I'd like to know: Why, prior to Otmar and Permane were canned, was Pat fry looking for a new job? Why would he take a job with Williams, that's so much farther down the rabbit hole, than stay at Alpine?
Probably heard within the company that he was getting canned, he believed it and went hunting for a job, while the others, one of whom has seen many such culling, thought they can play the usual game of pandering to new management and point at their enemies of not doing a good job.
I doudt that, not even Otmar was gonna get let go. He only got let go cause he stuck by Permane. Pat Fry has always been a good technical resource and never a trouble maker. Although, his cars have only ever won the championship at McLaren 2 years after Newey left there. It was Hamilton's first championship.
If the reports of Alpine's PU deficit are accurate then they have done as good a job as anyone not named Red Bull on the aerodynamics side. The car was in contention for pole in Australia last year which basically has no straights. Usually to make up for that PU, they wouldve had to run compromised setup as well. I dont think anyone look at Pat Fry and say he was the problem. Either he wanted out himself, which makes sense since Alpine/Renault has been a clown show since coming back, or there is some serious scapegoating.
For Viry to take as much time as they did and still come up with this PU, its hard to look beyond that or the biggest objective reasons or their mediocrity. Rossi was the wrong choice and so was Otmar (besides bringing in BWT money), but there is a lot of throwing the baby out with the bath water going on at Alpine. And if the management believes that increased Francophilia is the solution to this situation then the cycle will just repeat itself and it'll be hilarious to watch.