{"id":589797,"date":"2026-04-08T07:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589797\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:51:10","slug":"mclaren-gives-f2-champion-leo-fornaroli-several-f1-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589797\/","title":{"rendered":"McLaren gives F2 champion Leo Fornaroli several F1 tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/mclaren\/10\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">McLaren<\/a> reserve driver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/leonardo-fornaroli\/955844\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leonardo Fornaroli<\/a> has completed his first Formula 1 tests, covering more than 900km (560 miles) with the team\u2019s 2023 machinery.<\/p>\n<p>The reigning Formula 2 champion failed to find a seat in the world championship for 2026 and settled for a reserve role at McLaren \u2013 that was the first time he associated with an F1 team.<\/p>\n<p>The Woking-based outfit swiftly gave Fornaroli his first outings in grand prix machinery. The 21-year-old Italian drove the MCL60 on 23-24 March at Barcelona, completing 112 laps (512km) and earning praise from McLaren.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made fantastic progress throughout, getting to grips with the F1 car incredibly quickly, and continuing to demonstrate the traits we\u2019ve seen throughout his successful junior career of consistency and his rapid ability to learn and perform,\u201d McLaren chief business affairs officer Alessandro Alunni Bravi said of Fornaroli\u2019s outing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTests like these are vital in ensuring he\u2019s prepared as the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team\u2019s reserve, as well as for his development within our driver development pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/leonardo-fornaroli-mclaren-res.jpg\" alt=\"Leonardo Fornaroli, McLaren Reserve Driver \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Leonardo Fornaroli, McLaren Reserve Driver<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: McLaren<\/p>\n<p>Fornaroli then took to the track on 7 April at Silverstone, covering 68 laps (393km), with the squad describing his programme as \u2018longer runs, lower fuel loads, and a mix of hard and soft tyres\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The youngster has therefore completed nearly three grand prix distances in F1 machinery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother good day on track \u2013 it was amazing to be back in the MCL60,\u201d Fornaroli said. \u201cSilverstone is one of my favourite circuits, so I\u2019m grateful to McLaren for the opportunity to get back behind the wheel of an F1 car there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith it being my second test, the run plan was more advanced, so I got to try some different set-ups and run with different levels of fuel, which continues to support my understanding of driving a Formula 1 car. I\u2019m very happy with today, and I continued to make improvements from my test a few weeks ago, getting even more comfortable with these machines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McLaren has announced Fornaroli will enjoy further outings \u2018at a variety of different circuits\u2019 while he supports the team\u2019s effort both trackside and in the simulator.<\/p>\n<p>Read Also:<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli has completed his first Formula 1 tests, covering more than 900km (560 miles)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,47807,590,224697,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-589797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-leonardo-fornaroli","14":"tag-mclaren","15":"tag-mclaren-gives-f2-champion-leo-fornaroli-several-f1-tests","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}