Look at this career trajectory. As FormulaUno.it reports, Leonardo Fornaroli is stepping into McLaren's WEC lineup for 2027 while keeping his duties as a Formula 1 reserve driver for the team. The young Italian is about to shoulder a dual program that bridges single-seaters and endurance racing right as the Woking squad brings its new Hypercar to the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
From today, the 21-year-old from Piacenza is officially tied to the endurance project that marks McLaren's return to the Le Mans 24 Hours and prototype racing with the brand-new MCL-HY. James Barclay leads this massive undertaking, which will see two cars fielded in their debut season. While Lando Norris recently shook down the machine during testing at Portimao, Barclay made it clear that the 2025 champion's priority remains Formula 1, even if a Le Mans appearance could happen eventually. Fornaroli, meanwhile, is already putting in the miles, testing the Hypercar at Paul Ricard during one of the final sessions before homologation locks the design in place until the end of 2029.
That CV is already packing serious weight. After claiming the Formula 3 title in 2024, Fornaroli followed it up by conquering Formula 2 in 2025, firmly cementing his status within the Woking organization. By January 2026, McLaren promoted him to an official Formula 1 reserve role, stepping in alongside Pato O'Ward before O'Ward shifted entirely to IndyCar. Alongside simulator and development work that gave him valuable seat time in the Formula 1 car, Fornaroli made his official grand prix weekend debut during 2026 free practice at Barcelona, where he clocked the fifth-fastest time.
Now, the endurance paddock awaits. This isn't a departure from the Formula 1 pipeline, but rather a massive expansion of it. McLaren has spent months developing the MCL-HY LMDh prototype—built in partnership with Dallara providing the chassis and AutoTecnica handling the engine—with sights firmly set on repeating their historic 1995 Le Mans victory achieved by Yannick Dalmas, JJ Lehto, and Masanori Sekiya.
Fornaroli slots into a driver roster that already features Mikkel Jensen, Laurens Vanthoor, and Alex Lynn, with Malthe Jakobsen heavily rumored to cross over from Peugeot. Other names like Gregoire Saucy, Ben Hanley, and Richard Verschoor are also plugged into the development machine, meaning the final pieces of the WEC puzzle are still snapping together. Fornaroli jumps into this brutal top-tier championship bringing the trademark consistency that earned him his single-seater titles, and it might just be the exact weapon needed for endurance racing.
