The McLaren F1 workforce has confirmed reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli and IndyCar star Pato O’Ward as its 2026 reserve drivers.
Fornaroli was snapped up by McLaren in December after securing the F2 championship, becoming a member of its driver growth programme. As a part of these duties the Italian will probably be its designated reserve driver for almost all of the 2026 season, supporting common racers Oscar Piastri and world champion Lando Norris. As a part of the deal, McLaren defined Fornaroli “would undertake an intensive testing and sim programme to assist his growth”.
“I’m thrilled to be moving into an prolonged position with the McLaren Mastercard Components 1 Crew as reserve driver as a part of the McLaren Driver Growth Programme,” mentioned Fornaroli. “It’s an thrilling subsequent step in my journey, and I’m trying ahead to contributing to such a profitable, championship-winning workforce this season. An enormous thanks to Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella] and Alessandro [Alunni Bravi] for this chance.”
McLaren’s IndyCar frontrunner O’Ward will complement Fornaroli so far as his IndyCar duties permit.
“I’m excited to proceed in my position as reserve driver for the McLaren Mastercard Components 1 Crew, alongside my major duties within the NTT IndyCar Sequence with Arrow McLaren,” the Mexican mentioned. “I’ve discovered an unimaginable quantity from testing and driving F1 automobiles over the previous few years, so I’m trying ahead to this continued progress and growth.”
Pato O’ Ward testing for McLaren in Abu Dhabi
Picture by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Pictures
Alongside Fornaroli and O’Ward, McLaren confirmed its full growth roster for 2026 will include Christian Costoya, Matteo De Palo, Ella Hakkinen, Ella Lloyd, Ella Stevens, Dries Van Langendonck and Richard Verschoor.
Latest signing and long-time F2 competitor Verschoor will compete within the European Le Mans Sequence with the Duqueine LMP2 squad, with a view to getting ready for McLaren’s hypercar assault in 2027.
De Palo is McLaren’s most senior teen on its single-seater ladder in FIA F3 with Trident, whereas Belgian prodigy Van Langendonck will graduate full-time from karting to single-seaters in British F4 – with Costoya additionally set for an F3 programme all through Europe.
Lloyd and Stevens will characterize McLaren in F1 Academy, whereas Hakkinen, the daughter of two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen, will undertake an F4 testing programme forward of a projected 2027 racing programme.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, McLaren’s chief companies affairs officer, mentioned: “The workforce is happy to substantiate its driver growth programme line-up alongside its racing and testing programmes for 2026.
“It’s nice for Leonardo to step up into the reserve driver position for the McLaren Mastercard Components 1 Crew as a part of his growth with us, with Pato O’Ward additionally persevering with on this position. We’ve got chosen an extremely gifted group of 9 drivers, which exhibits the well being of our expertise pipeline.
“We’re all excited to see their growth this season as we create skilled drivers throughout all elements of racing, progressing in direction of Components 1, IndyCar and the workforce’s upcoming World Endurance Championship entry.”
Learn Additionally:
We wish your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Crew
