McLaren, Fornaroli eager
In McLaren, Italian is also spoken. The team principal is Andrea Stella, from 2028 his right-hand man will be Gianpiero Lambiase (British with Italian parents), while a high-level management figure is Alessandro Alunni Bravi, former head of the Sauber pit wall and now Chief Business Affairs Officer in Woking.
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However, Italy is also a protagonist on the track: Leonardo Fornaroli, in fact, is preparing to debut in a Formula 1 race weekend. He should have done so in Bahrain, but the cancellation of the race in April due to the war in Iran forced McLaren to change its plans. No big deal, because the papaya team has blind faith in the outgoing Formula 2 champion, as admitted by Alunni Bravi himself.
Alunni Bravi’s words
“Leonardo is doing an incredible job, we are really very happy with how he is doing; he has already completed two tests in old cars and has covered more than a thousand kilometers in the car, without making mistakes; he is growing very well and was immediately competitive,” these are the words of Alunni Bravi to the media, including FormulaPassion. “Now two races have been cancelled, so the plans for Sakhir have been modified. We will certainly see him in FP1 this year, but I think the program concerning him is to have him ready not for a free practice session, but ready to race, being our reserve driver.”
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“The TPC tests will continue during the season, but we will see him in a weekend soon. He has already been with us in Japan, he worked with the team to try to understand how to approach a race weekend in terms of feedback and what the main tasks of the main driver are,” he added. “Furthermore, he is also supporting our team in GPs, working on the simulator and providing a very valuable contribution.”
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