Oscar Piastri to miss Brazil GP FP1 as McLaren junior steps in

Leo Fornaroli will be back in action for McLaren in FP1 at the São Paulo Grand Prix as he completes the team’s mandatory rookie sessions for this season.

He will replace Oscar Piastri in Interlagos, having driven Lando Norris’ MCL40 in Mexico.

Leo Fornaroli to drive Oscar Piastri’s McLaren in Brazilian GP practice

Reigning Formula 2 champion Fornaroli joined McLaren last year as a development driver and was promoted to reserve driver a month later.

After fellow reserve driver Pato O’Ward told McLaren CEO Zak Brown to “fire” him, Fornaroli has been the sole driver covering McLaren’s mandatory young driver outings.

The 21-year-old drove the MCL40 for the first time in Barcelona, before further appearances in Hungary and Mexico.

This weekend’s FP1 session in Brazil will be his second outing in back-to-back sessions, with the Italian replacing Piastri.

Last time out in Mexico, he drove Norris’ car and was 17th fastest in a session stacked with junior drivers.

Norris and Piastri joked with Fornaroli about how much his race weekends are compared to theirs.

Leo with all the places to chill on the weekend 🤝

#McLarenF1 | #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 https://t.co/7sqrWzzBdE

— McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team (@McLarenF1) November 5, 2026

McLaren head to Brazil looking to regain third place in the Constructors’ Championship, having fallen 17 points behind Red Bull.

Peter Prodromou, McLaren’s chief technical officer of aerodynamics, has revealed the team will have “some” updates for the São Paulo race.

“We’ve got some updates coming to the car across the front wing, rear wing and some floor components as part of our normal development cycle,” he said.

“The aim is to make up ground, improve our performance over the remaining races and build momentum into next year. São Paulo has been a good circuit for us in the past and is a fairly representative track, so we’re hopeful these upgrades can help us take another step towards the front.

“The season isn’t over yet: these upgrades are designed to improve the car now and help us in our fight for third in the Championship. While the learning we take from these upgrades will feed into next year’s development, we also expect to carry over the concept of the new front wing into the launch specification of next year’s car.”

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