Back in the car
This weekend in Budapest will be another special weekend for Leonardo Fornaroli, who will have the opportunity to get back in the car and drive in the FP1 session in place of the regular driver Oscar Piastri. For the young talent from Piacenza, it will be his second official F1 outing after the one in mid-June in Barcelona, when he took Lando Norris’s place.
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Fornaroli’s name is also hot in market terms, because Andrea Stella and McLaren’s intention would be to have the Italian driver race as a regular in the Circus in 2027. The most plausible destination for him right now seems to be Haas, on which Ferrari is also reportedly focusing to debut the young Brazilian FDA academy driver Rafael Camara. Fornaroli, who in the last two seasons has consecutively won the F3 title in 2024 and F2 in 2025, also received compliments from Oscar Piastri on Thursday in Budapest.
Piastri’s approval
The Australian, questioned in a press conference, publicly congratulated his substitute for Friday morning’s first free practice session: “Tomorrow I will hand over the wheel to Fornaroli in free practice – the Australian recalled – and I believe he is ready for F1. He has done many tests with us and it’s great to see how motivated he is. He asks questions and tries to understand things, he is an excellent teammate and I believe he can do well”, Piastri concluded.
