McLaren F1 reserve Fornaroli loaned to Haas for TPC run after Barcelona FP1 debut

McLaren Formula 1 team reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli is to conduct a TPC test with Haas in Jerez on Wednesday and Thursday, just a few days after his FP1 run with the MCL40 in Barcelona.

Haas noted that it “has the capacity to test and appraise drivers through its TPC programme,” and that Fornaroli has “subsequently been offered the opportunity.” Haas regular Ryo Hirakawa will also be at the test.

The Jerez run inevitably invites speculation about whether the Italian might be under consideration for a future race seat with Haas, as McLaren is unlikely to have a berth available any time soon.

However, team swapping is not unusual for reserves given the limited mileage available, with the Alpine contracted Paul Aron also doing FP1 sessions for Audi this year.

FIA F3 and F2 champion Fornaroli made a good impression in Barcelona, where he took over the car of Lando Norris. Having got some routine data gathering out of the way finished the session P5.

Team principal Andrea Stella was keen to praise his countryman.

“It's a very deserved opportunity,” he said when asked by Crash.net about Fornaroli’s public debut. “We have worked with Leonardo for some months now. We have appreciated massively his attitude as a person and as a driver, and he is actually a very interesting character.

“He looks timid, but by far is the most proactive driver in asking the engineers, he goes around with his notebook, takes several notes, and as soon as he has an idea, he shares it.

“So he’s a very interesting character, and then when he gets in a car, being either the simulator, being it in the TPC testing car, or here in a free practice one session on a current car, is fast.”

Regarding the work he did in Barcelona, Stella added: “We gave Leonardo some duties in the first part of his FP1 session, because he needed to do some work for us on the rakes. It's actually the rakes to try and understand the behaviour of the front wing.

“It was difficult because he needed to go at a constant speed while everyone else was at normal speed, and he did it with great level of professionalism and a great level of precision in terms of these procedures, because there's a lot of work on the steering wheel to achieve the right speed and stay away from traffic.

“And then when we gave him a couple of sets, one used, one new, it was fast, and I have to say that in the lap time he did, you should take away two tenths of a second, because he loses two tenths of a second down the straight, because with this power unit you need to get some familiarity, and as soon as you have to manage some traffic, the state of charge of the battery is not maximum, and you're going to be punished down the straight.

“So very happy with the aptitude, the speed, the consistency. Leonardo is certainly an asset for F1 in the future.”

Meanwhile, Ferrari protégé Rafael Camara is set to continue on his learning curve with a TPC run for the Italian team in Barcelona on Wednesday.