Guest Column
Leonardo Fornaroli on his plans for the season and his advice the 2026 grid
The 2026 FIA Formula 2 campaign is just days away from getting underway in Melbourne, where 22 drivers will start a season that they hope will deliver a title at the end of the year.
Someone who knows a lot about that is the 2025 Champion Leonardo Fornaroli, who is settling into his new life as the Reserve Driver for the McLaren Formula 1 Team.
Recently, we caught up with him from the Bahrain paddock where he was present for F1 pre-season testing, to talk about his plans for the year and to see if he had any words of wisdom for the F2 grid.
FORNAROLI ON HIS PLANS FOR 2026…
“Life has been great. I have started working with McLaren. On track, we will start soon, we're just preparing everything. I'm enjoying the environment, working with everyone in the factory, everyone in the team is nice.
“The atmosphere is amazing, the support I have had is incredible. I'm grateful that I joined them.
“This year is different because I'm not racing this season, everything is new. I am trusting the team, because they're very successful, and I am trying to learn as much as I can from the official drivers.
“I am going to spend as much time as I can with engineers to learn the car. I am trusting the process of the simulator and the TPC days. I hope we'll have a nice year, and we'll enjoy it for sure.”
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ON THE COMPETITIVESNESS OF THIS YEAR’S F2 GRID
“It's going to be very competitive because there are some really strong drivers remaining and really strong rookies coming in.
“The teams are starting to understand the car a bit better, and already last year, the gaps were incredibly close. I think it's going to be a fun season to watch.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WINTER PREPARATION AS A ROOKIE
“I worked a lot on the simulator, seeing what I could improve from Formula 3. I also worked a lot on the physical side and the mental side, getting myself ready.
“Importantly, I worked on my relationship with the team, with my engineers, and putting all the data that we had together.
“They have to do that, but also trust the team, trust the process, and try to be consistent. That's super important, you need to have less lows than highs when you're driving.
“But they have to trust themselves a lot as well. All the drivers on the grid this year are super strong and very competitive. They have to trust themselves, they have to study a lot, trust the team they have around them and then give everything on track.
“In the end, there are quite a few things that are important for them to do, but I think the main thing is to enjoy it. They have the privilege to race in the Formula 2, not many people have this opportunity, so just enjoy it.”
ON WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN THE TITLE
“Last year, I think it was consistency. As I said before, it's super important. Even when something was not going my way, I was always trying to bring home some points.
“When you do the final calculation at the end of the year, those are the points that can make a difference.”