McLaren has locked in one of its brightest young talents for a dual programme that keeps him firmly in the Formula 1 orbit while giving him a proper race seat in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Leonardo Fornaroli will continue as McLaren’s Formula 1 reserve and third driver in 2027 and simultaneously race the team’s brand-new Hypercar in the WEC, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The move is more than a consolation prize after the Italian missed out on a full-time F1 seat. It is a calculated bet by McLaren on a driver who has already delivered back-to-back junior titles and shown the consistency, maturity and feedback that modern manufacturer programmes demand.
FROM F3 AND F2 CHAMPION TO MCLAREN DEVELOPMENT DRIVER
Fornaroli, born in Piacenza in December 2004, belongs to a rare group of drivers who have won both the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships in successive seasons. His 2024 F3 title with Trident was built on remarkable consistency rather than race wins. In 2025 he switched to Invicta Racing and claimed the F2 crown as a rookie, adding four victories and nine podiums to a campaign that marked him as one of the most complete talents of his generation.
McLaren moved quickly after the title, placing him on its Driver Development Programme. Throughout 2026 he has served as reserve and third driver, logging extensive simulator time, Testing of Previous Cars sessions and two Free Practice 1 outings in Spain and Hungary. Further FP1 runs are scheduled for Mexico City and São Paulo, completing the team’s mandatory young-driver sessions for the year.
Those opportunities kept him sharp even while full-time F1 seats remained scarce. When Haas ultimately preferred fellow youngster Rafa Câmara for 2027, McLaren’s response was clear: keep Fornaroli inside the family and give him meaningful racing mileage.
A DOUBLE PROGRAMME THAT BRIDGES FORMULA 1 AND ENDURANCE
In 2027 Fornaroli will balance two demanding roles. He remains ready to step into either McLaren Formula 1 car if Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri are unavailable. At the same time he becomes a full-time driver for the McLaren Hypercar Team, racing the MCL-HY in the World Endurance Championship.
He joins an already strong line-up that includes Mikkel Jensen, Alex Lynn and 2024 WEC Hypercar champion Laurens Vanthoor. McLaren plans two cars, so additional drivers will still be announced, but the core group already mixes proven endurance winners with fresh single-seater speed.
Fornaroli has already sampled the Hypercar, completing a short first run that he described as unlike anything he had previously experienced. Full testing is under way, and the Italian has made clear he intends to absorb every lesson the car and the championship can offer.
WHY THIS MOVE MATTERS FOR FORNAROLI, MCLAREN AND THE WIDER SPORT
For a 21-year-old who has spent the past season largely off the race track, the WEC programme restores competitive rhythm. Endurance racing demands different skills: tyre management over long stints, traffic navigation, strategic patience and the ability to work inside a multi-driver crew. Those lessons often accelerate a driver’s overall development more effectively than another year of pure simulator and FP1 work.
McLaren gains a young, fast, technically strong driver who already knows the organisation’s culture and can feed useful data into both the Formula 1 and Hypercar programmes. The manufacturer is returning to the top class of endurance racing after years of preparation. Having a development-programme graduate race the new car from the start creates continuity between the two pillars of the racing organisation.
The broader industry also benefits. Manufacturers entering Hypercar are increasingly looking for drivers who can cross-pollinate knowledge between single-seaters and prototypes. Fornaroli’s path mirrors a growing trend: keep the best junior talents under contract even when the Formula 1 grid is full, then place them in high-level endurance programmes that keep them race-fit and visible.
WHAT SUCCESS COULD LOOK LIKE IN 2027 AND BEYOND
Expectations for a debut season should remain realistic. The Hypercar field is stacked with factory teams that have years of continuous development. McLaren’s first campaign will be about learning the car, the series and the unique demands of races that last six, eight or twenty-four hours. Consistent points finishes, strong showings at Le Mans and clear progress across the year would already constitute a solid foundation.
For Fornaroli personally, a strong 2027 could reopen Formula 1 doors. Performance in a competitive Hypercar, combined with continued reserve duties and the occasional race weekend if called upon, would keep his name in the conversation when seats become available in 2028 or later. Few drivers of his generation will arrive at that moment with both recent single-seater titles and a full season of top-class prototype experience.
### A SMART STEP IN A CROWDED CAREER LADDER
McLaren’s decision reflects a clear-eyed assessment of the current Formula 1 landscape. With Norris and Piastri locked in and limited openings elsewhere, the team has chosen to protect its investment rather than risk losing Fornaroli to another manufacturer or a lower series. Racing the Hypercar keeps him sharp, raises his profile and deepens his understanding of high-performance engineering.
For the Italian, the message is equally pragmatic. The dream of a full-time Formula 1 seat remains, yet the opportunity to race a works Hypercar at Le Mans and across a global championship is substantial in its own right. He has already described the move as an “incredibly exciting next step” and expressed confidence in the people and the project around him.
In an era when the path from junior formulae to Formula 1 is narrower than ever, McLaren and Fornaroli have found a constructive way forward. The 2027 season will test both the driver and the new Hypercar programme. If both rise to the challenge, this dual role could prove to be one of the more intelligent career decisions of the year.
