2024 Champion Fornaroli on his step up to Formula 2 in Abu Dhabi

2024 Champion Leonardo Fornaroli recently debuted in Formula 2 at the final round of the campaign as well as the post-season test and afterwards we caught up with him to see how it went.

The 20-year-old's maiden race weekend outing came with Rodin Motorsport at Yas Marina, where he finished just out of the points in both events, P10 in the Sprint Race, and 13th in the Feature.

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A few days after he returned to the same Abu Dhabi venue with his 2025 team Invicta Racing for three days of post-season testing. He completed 261 laps across the test and speaking afterwards he reflected on his start to life as a Formula 2 driver.

“It has been good,” said Fornaroli on making the step up. “Finally, we made the step up and it’s quite good how it's been going. Of course, it's very difficult to adapt a new car and be fast straight away but I'm learning a lot.

“I think we did a good job in these three days, gathered a lot of information for next year and now we have the winter break and I am going to train a lot because this car is a very physical and we going to try to be ready as much as possible for next year.”

Fornaroli also looked back on Round 14 and while he had hoped to achieve more naturally as a competitor, he was happy to take some lessons from the experience.

The Italian also showed good pace in his first Qualifying, his fastest time of a 1:36.450 put him in P13, but it was just over three-tenths away from a place in the top 10 on his debut.

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“Of course, it was much more difficult than what I expected, to jump in a new car on a race weekend, with all the drivers that did the whole season,” he said.

“It was really not easy, and of course, I wanted to do more as a driver. But the results we achieved were quite good and it was a positive experience, and it allowed me to start on a different point for these three days of testing.”

Those three days of testing came with Invicta Racing fresh from Gabriel Bortoleto’s Drivers’ Championship triumph and with the team having won the Teams’ title.

Fornaroli stepped into his former Trident teammate’s #10 car for the test and says he felt more embedded within the team as the days went on.

His focus now is on doing everything he needs to do to be ready for pre-season testing and to hit the ground running at the opening round in Melbourne.

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“We did a lot of quali simulation, a lot of race simulation, lots of pitstops and race starts as well,” he revealed.

“I improved a lot during these three days. I feel like I am working very well with my engineer and with the team in general. Still, of course, there is a lot to improve but slowly we are getting there. Now it’s about doing everything necessary to be ready for next year.”