Leonardo Fornaroli did everything that young drivers are expected to do if they want to make it into Formula 1 . He won Formula 3 in 2024. He won Formula 2 in 2025. He built a reputation as one of the most consistent junior drivers in motorsport. And yet when the 2026 F1 season began, he wasn't on the grid; he was beside it, as a test and reserve driver for McLaren .
But Fornaroli's story is not one of failure. Far from it. Instead, it shows that while success in F2 is the strongest signal that a driver is ready for F1, it does not always mean that F1 is ready for them. So what are F1 teams looking for when considering potential drivers, and what happens when a driver puts on their best performance but still doesn't land that F1 role they have been dreaming of? Let's find out.
"[F2] is, for me, the most pivotal part of a driver's career," said Chris McCarthy, lead commentator for F2, F3 and the Porsche Supercup, all of which are supporting series for F1."When you get to Formula 2, if you have a good season, you're looking at some kind of path into Formula 1.[...] That could be as a reserve driver, yes, for free practice sessions. And if there's a seat available, then you're putting yourself as one of the first in the queue to take it."
As lead commentator, McCarthy has seen firsthand how these young drivers have developed over the years. He has followed many of them from the earliest points of their careers, calling their moves on live television and studying their trajectories as they rise through the ranks. He recently sat down to speak with me about the importance of the F2 series in young drivers' careers and all of the different things teams have on their checklist when they are looking at potential candidates to join their ranks in what he called, "basically the biggest audition in motorsport."
This is perhaps one of the most obvious and intuitive things that teams look for when considering their junior prospects, and F2 puts drivers to the test.
"It's one of the hardest championships in the world," said McCarthy, "because everyone's in the same car… qualifying is so difficult, you only get forty-five minutes to learn the track, so yes, arguably one of the most difficult championships in the world."
Many promising drivers have come to F2 only to stumble. Colton Herta , who finished second overall in the 2024 IndyCar Championship, recently made the move to F2 in a bid to gain the necessary super license points for a seat in F1. Unfortunately, his F2 performances have been less than stellar, and the American is currently sitting 19th out of 23 drivers in the standings.
"Dennis Hauger got to F2 having been F3 champion and just didn't really ever have the season required," McCarthy added. "And so with that he had to jump over to the States. And now he's doing really well in IndyCar , but had he had a really good F2 season, that might have been slightly different. Maybe he would be looking at a seat in F1."
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu and driver Rafael Camara, who was recently announced to be joining the team in 2027. (Photo: Haas F1 Team Media)
And then there are those who rise to the top. As McCarthy pointed out, "you've got Rafa Camara as well, who's jumped up into F2 and he's having a brilliant season." Invicta Racing's Camara–the leader of the 2026 F2 Championship at the time of writing–was recently announced as part of Haas 's 2027 F1 line-up, replacing Esteban Ocon who is set to depart from the team at the end of this year.
Of note, Camara got his F1 seat without clinching the F2 title just yet. In fact, Nikola Tsolov of Campos Racing is hot on his heels with just seven points separating them with two rounds to go. Camara's promotion before the title has been decided shows that teams aren't interested in someone who can just finish first. They're considering the whole package.
Once a team knows that a driver is fast enough, they start looking beyond just the timing tower for other qualities that suggest future success in F1.
"I think Ugo Ugochukwu is a good example," said McCarthy on this. "He had come back from a very bad [2025 F3] season to win the [2026] Championship. And there's an American team in Formula 1 who want an American driver, and if I was Colton Herta, I'd be very worried right now."
Ugochukwu's rise from 16th during the 2025 F3 Championship to his recent crowning as the winner of the 2026 season spoke volumes about his ability to adapt and learn from his mistakes, as well as his mental fortitude. These are all among the traits that F1 teams certainly scout for, and his 2025 departure from McLaren's Driver Development Programme leaves him available to be picked up by a team like Cadillac in the future.
And perhaps no other driver illustrates this better than Fornaroli himself.
"He was super consistent, he never crashed," said McCarthy of Fornaroli's 2024 F3 run. And while his lack of race wins made him fly under the radar throughout that season, Fornaroli's consistency and reliability kept him at the front of the field.
"He just scored points and let everyone else crash. And that's kind of how he won F3 really, because he didn't win any races but he was always in the top ten in quality, which was a massive thing… It was only when he won F3 at the last corner, last lap, that everyone was like, 'my god, like he actually won it.' Which is the best way to win a championship ever."
Invicta teammates Leonardo Fornaroli (left) and Roman Stanek (right) celebrate their podium finishes for the sprint of the eighth F2 2025 Championship round in Silverstone, UK. (Photo: Greg Kallman/FanAmp)
He built upon that success by claiming the 2025 F2 title, scoring four wins and nine total podiums, and in doing so earning the nickname 'Mr. Consistency.' It also earned him a spot in the McLaren paddock, as their reserve and test driver for the 2026 season, which brings us to the final factor teams must consider…
When it comes to joining the F1 grid, timing truly is everything. As Fornaroli showed, you can have the pace and the mentality of an F1 driver, but if there are no open seats, there is nothing to be done.
McCarthy brought up Nyck de Vries, who won the F2 Championship in 2019 but didn't make his F1 debut until 2022, as an example of this, saying, "He would've just got there at the wrong time."
Unfortunately for de Vries, 2020 was a year with limited opportunities in F1, which left him without an immediate promotion to the series.
"But a few years later he came back and had his chance. And [in the meantime] he went on to win Formula E. So yeah, timing is a major part of it as well."
We saw how a well-timed career can unfold in the 2025 F1 season, which featured a class of five rookie drivers all coming in from F2. Among those was Kimi Antonelli, who impressed Mercedes so much that they fast-tracked him from Formula Regional series in 2023 immediately to F2 in 2024, bypassing the standard path through F3, because a seat at the team was set to be opening soon.
By contrast, this year only one rookie was brought in from F2: Arvid Lindblad . Meanwhile other drivers who had equally impressive F2 seasons didn't get their chance simply because there was no opening to audition for.
Arvid Lindblad in his F2 car, as a Red Bull junior driver during the 2025 F2 Championship. (Photo: Greg Kallman/FanAmp)
This brings into question the situation for drivers like Nikola Tsolov, who is still in contention to win this year's F2 title. As a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, he has been frequently mentioned in talks about next year's Racing Bulls driver line-up. But that all depends on whether the team will keep their current driver pair of Lindblad and Liam Lawson, or part ways with one of them.
So then…
"Most of the F2 drivers who win go on to do something pretty, pretty special afterwards," said McCarthy. "I think if you look through all of them now, they're all doing amazing things."
F1 is just one of many doors that a successful season in F2 can open. And McCarthy emphasized this once again, saying, "Obviously getting to F1, doing a good season there is very important. But I'd say [F2] is the most important part, 'cause it will put a driver in whatever path they're gonna go down for the next five to ten years."
That path can take on many shapes, and the next best thing is clearly a reserve for an F1 team. It puts you in the paddock, right where all of the action is, keeping you fully involved and aware of what is going on in your respective team. It also means that you are the next man up, should one of the main drivers be unable to race during a Grand Prix weekend.
"If there's an F2 driver that is not going into some kind of reserve role, test driver role, then they are like the biggest free agent in motorsport," said McCarthy. "So you know, I'd say that's why McLaren jumped at signing Leo [Fornaroli]."
Sebastian Montoya, Leonardo Fornaroli and Roman Stanek on the sprint podium during the sprint of the eighth F2 2025 Championship round in Silverstone, UK. (Photo: Greg Kallman, FanAmp)
But he also cautions that there are limitations in this role as well. "That lifespan of waiting on the bench, you know, is quite low. It doesn't have a long expectancy rate. It's like two or three years.
"Felipe Drugovich, we all kind of got bored of seeing him stood at the side and, you know, everyone was feeling sorry for him, weren't they? But now he's absolutely smashing it in Formula E."
And indeed, many drivers have found incredible success in series other than F1 following their run in F2. For Nyck de Vries, it was a title in Formula E. For Liam Lawson, who also didn't make it into F1 right away, it was a stellar performance and overall second-place finish in Super Formula. For Dennis Hauger, it was an INDY NXT title. The list goes on and on.
Ultimately, what this shows is that F2 functions exactly like "the biggest audition in motorsport," setting up talented young drivers for success, whether in F1 or elsewhere. And like any audition, an excellent performance may put you in the strongest possible position, but it will not always guarantee you the exact role that you auditioned for. Sometimes you become the understudy. Sometimes you get cast in a completely different role. But one thing is for certain. Pass the audition, and great opportunities will come.
