McLaren deny reports Donald Trump will drive their F1 car

McLaren have denied reports that US President Donald Trump will be driving one of their F1 cars in a test next week. 

French broadcaster Canal+ reported that President Trump would drive an F1 car during a test outing next week in Austin but McLaren have rubbished suggestions he will be behind the wheel of one of their cars. 

When approached for comment, a McLaren spokesperson confirmed to Crash.net that Trump "won't be driving our car". 

Trump made an appearance in the F1 paddock at last year's Miami Grand Prix, where he was spotted touring McLaren's garage. 

The 45th and 47th president of the United States was a surprise guest at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium ahead of Sunday’s grand prix in 2024, causing a paparazzi frenzy.

Trump was seen in McLaren’s garage, where he spoke with the British team’s CEO Zak Brown, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1/Liberty Media CEOS.

Following the visit, McLaren released a statement which read: “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1.

“We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport.”

Trump took credit for Lando Norris's maiden F1 win in Miami. 

“I didn’t see him in the garage, to be honest. I was busy prepping for the race. But he saw me afterwards, and he came up to congratulate me,” Norris explained.

“So I guess an honour, because whenever you have someone like this, it has to be an honour for them to come up to you, to take time out of their life, to pay their respects for what you’ve done.

"He said he was my lucky charm because it’s my [first] win. So I don’t know if he’s going to come to more races now,” Norris added.

“But yeah, there are a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you’ve got to have a lot of respect for in many ways.

“And yeah, for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you’ve got to be thankful for that. And I was. So yeah, a cool moment. And that’s all.”