The pilot dad, the debut on the karts, the duel with Minì, the category jump, the test in Formula E. and now the prospects towards Formula 1
There is an Italian pilot who is getting extraordinary results: it is Leonardo Fornaroli, champion in charge of Formula 3 and leader in Formula 2 in his year as Rookie. A no small feat, recently performed by phenomena such as Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Plastri. The last blue to win in the then GP2 was Davide Valsecchi in 2012. Some F1 teams have already made contact with Fornaroli to bring him to the top league even in 2026, because the successes he is conquering quickly changed his prospects. Italy has no two pilots on the starting grid in the top flight since 2011, with Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
career
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Fornaroli’s path began at the age of 10 in the Karts. The engines are a family passion: his father ran to GT3. The Piacentino arrived third in the Italian X30 Junior class championship in 2018, while in 2020 he went to the Italian Formula 4 championship, where he obtained a ninth and fifth place in the standings. A fundamental stop in his career is the European Formula 3, closed by Fornaroli in eighth position, arriving first among the rookie. This allowed Italian to debut in Formula 3 in 2023. If eleventh has arrived in the first season, in the second he managed to triumph. The struggle for the title with Gabriele Minì, who arrived at the culmination in the last corner of the last race with the decisive overtaking of Fornaroli against Christian Manell, is unforgettable. After the race Minì was disqualified for the irregular pressure of the tires, but this has not changed anything in the perspective of the ranking.
Formula 2
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In 2025 Fornaroli rose in the category, signing a contract with Invicta and greeting Trident. The Italian immediately won a second place in the Sprint Race of the Australia Grand Prix. Then he climbed to the podium in Bahrain and Monaco, but his golden moment began in Austria with the second position in the feature Race. From that moment he obtained three first places in three weekends (Silverstone, Spa and Budapest), who took him to the top of the ranking: on the eve of Monza he has 17 points ahead of the American Jak Crawford. In this way Fornaroli also interrupted a negative strip: the Piacentino had never climbed the top step of the podium in Formula 3 and did not win a 1491 day race.
the character
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Fornaroli is a simple guy: he loves i Coldplay they Empire of the Sunbut to load listens to the AC/DC And other rock bands. He is inspired by Valentino Rossi, who paid homage to using yellow as the main color of his helmet. When he cannot run on a car he does it on foot: in fact he participated in the half marathon of Piacenza. Among the adults, he has already tasted the formula and, having taken part this year at the Berlin Rookie Test: but the dream remains Formula 1.
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