Leonardo Fornaroli gave a more detailed explanation about how the work with McLaren has been and what it is like to be part of the Formula 1 team’s Driver Academy.
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The current Formula 2 champion joined the British team’s program after winning the junior category title. Shortly after, he was confirmed as the official reserve for the 2026 season.
This year, he has traveled with the team to several rounds, in addition to working on the simulator and doing tests with previous cars. Not only that, he did free practice sessions at the Barcelona and Hungary GPs.
“A lot is happening. We have done many simulator sessions to prepare each test with previous years’ cars (TPC) and each free practice 1 (FP1), as well as support work on Fridays [during F1 weekends], which I found very useful for my development,” he said.
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“Then, of course, there were all the tests with previous years’ cars; we made good progress in each session, including my first free practice 1 in Barcelona, which was a very good experience. I didn’t have many laps to push to the maximum, but the goal was to help the team by providing good data for aerodynamics,” he continued.
“I want to thank McLaren very much and everyone who works on the driver development program for the support. Everyone on the team is very professional, loves what they do, and strives to make me enjoy all the processes and all the work,” he concluded.
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