McLaren Reserve Fornaroli Set for Haas TPC Test in Jerez

McLaren reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli is set to gain more Formula 1 mileage next week when he joins Haas for a two-day Testing of Previous Cars programme in Jerez. The Italian will share driving duties with Ryo Hirakawa on Wednesday and Thursday, just days after an impressive FP1 appearance in Barcelona where he stood in for Lando Norris and finished fifth.

Why it matters:

With McLaren’s race seats occupied for the long term, the team is under pressure to keep its most promising junior relevant and race-ready. Fornaroli’s burgeoning reputation now depends on accumulating real-world F1 experience across different machinery, making these cross-team opportunities critical to his progression.

The Details:

• Fornaroli will pilot last year’s Haas challenger at Jerez as part of the team’s authorized TPC schedule, splitting seat time with the squad’s current reserve driver, Ryo Hirakawa.
• While Haas has emphasized that the test is purely developmental and does not point to an imminent race seat, the mere fact that a rival outfit is opening its doors underscores Fornaroli’s rising stock.
• His FP1 outing in Barcelona provided the perfect prelude. Thrown into Norris’ MCL40, he acclimatized quickly, executed the programme cleanly, and posted the fifth-fastest time—an effort that drew strong praise from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
• Stella publicly labeled Fornaroli "an asset for Formula 1" and confirmed that McLaren is working to find him driving opportunities anywhere on the grid, acknowledging that an internal race seat is unlikely anytime soon.
• These cross-team collaborations reflect a wider trend. With track time limited and seats scarce, juniors are increasingly farmed out to gather experience; Alpine-backed Paul Aron, for example, recently ran with Audi in Barcelona practice.

Looking Ahead:

Fornaroli’s Jerez test may not rewrite the 2027 driver market overnight, but it adds another line to a CV that is starting to look increasingly Formula 1 ready. If he continues to deliver against experienced benchmarks in unfamiliar machinery, the leap from McLaren prospect to grand prix driver will look less like a question of if, and more like a matter of when.