McLaren have confirmed a brand new appointment for the 2026 F1 season.
Lando Norris could have a brand new workforce member in 2026 (Picture: Getty)
Lando Norris could have a brand new face in his workforce for the 2026 season after McLaren confirmed the appointment of Leonardo Fornaroli as an official reserve, alongside check duties. The Italian prospect will share these duties with IndyCar sensation Pato O’Ward, who continues in his present function.
Fornaroli joined the McLaren junior workforce on the finish of the 2025 Formulation Two marketing campaign after profitable the championship forward of Jak Crawford and Richard Verschoor. The 21-year-old received the Formulation Three title the earlier 12 months, sealing the crown with immense consistency regardless of failing to win a race.
Verschoor, whose third-place end within the F2 standings earned him a spot in McLaren’s growth program, will compete for DUQUEINE Crew within the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Sequence, whereas engaged on “a testing programme throughout McLaren Racing’s portfolio”, which concerned IndyCar and WEC entries.
“I’m thrilled to be moving into an prolonged function with the McLaren Mastercard Formulation 1 Crew as Reserve Driver as a part of the McLaren Driver Improvement Programme,” Fornaroli stated on Thursday.
“It’s an thrilling subsequent step in my journey, and I’m wanting ahead to contributing to such a profitable, Championship-winning workforce this season. A giant thanks to Zak, Andrea and Alessandro for this chance.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, who’s accountable for McLaren’s driver growth pipeline, added: “The workforce are happy to verify its Driver Improvement Programme line-up alongside their racing and testing programmes for 2026. Inside this, it’s nice for Leonardo to step up into the Reserve Driver function for the McLaren Mastercard Formulation 1 Crew as a part of his growth with us, with Pato O’Ward additionally persevering with on this function.
Leonardo Fornaroli received the F2 title in 2025 (Picture: Getty)
“Now we have chosen an extremely gifted group of 9 drivers, which exhibits the well being of our expertise pipeline. We’re all excited to see their growth this season as we create skilled drivers throughout all features of racing, progressing in direction of Formulation 1, IndyCar and the workforce’s upcoming World Endurance Championship entry.”
Fornaroli is now well-placed to learn from the FP1 rookie laws in 2026. Final 12 months, these duties had been fulfilled by Alex Dunne and O’Ward, however the Irish racer shocked the paddock late within the season when he opted to sever ties with Zak Brown’s squad.
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“From the choices that I knew I had, the choice we made was one which needed to be made to be in F1,” he advised Balls.ie earlier this month. I believe it is so simple as that; it was truly my resolution. When my dad and I had been speaking about it, he wasn’t 100% certain. Usually, he is the one who is 100% certain! For me, I felt prefer it was the best resolution. I am greater than comfy with that. I believe, shifting ahead, we must be in an alright place.”
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