After his long-awaited F2 win at Silverstone, Leonardo Fornaroli reveals to LWOS the renewed determination he carries into Belgium.
F2 Momentum Builds for Leonardo Fornaroli After Silverstone Success
Leonardo Fornaroli has finally entered the club of Formula 2 winners. The Italian’s path to the top step of the podium has been a long and testing one. Now, it has paid off.
1492 days before Silverstone, Fornaroli was 16 years old, racing for Iron Lynx in Italian Formula 4.
He arrived at Misano, the second round of the championship, filled with confidence following a strong showing at Le Castellet, where he had scored points in all three opening races.
Fornaroli started Race 1 from pole position and led from lights to flag. That weekend, he secured three podium finishes across all races.
While the season did not unfold exactly as he had hoped, he demonstrated his speed and potential.
The Pressure of Winning
In motorsport, consistency remains a key factor. Every driver aims to strike the right balance between scoring points and winning every race, without overdoing it, which can have negative consequences.
Fornaroli has long understood the value of consistency. It has been instrumental in his rise through the junior ranks, even earning him a driver title. In Formula 3 last year, he exemplified this balance while driving for the title-winning team Trident.
The Italian team has played a pivotal role in Fornaroli’s development since his debut season in the European Formula Regional Championship. With Trident, he endured the frustration of struggling for top results, but also savoured the highs, standing on podiums and eventually securing a title in the final race at Monza.
Although he closed the 2024 season on a high, one thing was still missing: a race win. While consistency is an important factor in demonstrating a driver’s reliability, it is not everything in motorsport. Drivers do not go out on track to finish in the points or second. They race to reach the top step, to prove they have outperformed everyone else.
That hunger fuelled Fornaroli every time he put his helmet on and took to the track. But desire alone is not always enough; sometimes, achieving that next level requires a mental shift.
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Fornaroli’s F2 Journey: Close, but Not Quite
Over the years, Fornaroli has come close to victory multiple times since that breakthrough win in Misano. One of the most notable near-misses came earlier this season in Monte Carlo’s feature race, a track where overtaking is famously difficult.
After emerging unscathed from the opening chaos, he found himself comfortably in the lead. Victory seemed within reach. However, some might say fate had different plans for him.
The Italian was blindsided by a late safety car call, which helped Jak Crawford pit and exit in front of the group. The race was then red-flagged for damage to the barrier. As a result, Fornaroli finished in second place, feeling bitter about how things turned out for him.
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A New Chapter: Silverstone and Beyond
At Silverstone, after a difficult qualifying session, Fornaroli managed to clinch pole for the Sprint Race.
This time, he refused to let the opportunity evade him. When the lights went out, he briefly lost the lead to Kush Maini but quickly reclaimed it. From that point on, he controlled the race and crossed the line in first.
Now, as he heads to Spa, where margins are tight, Fornaroli is determined to hit the ground running and replicate the result from Silverstone.
Ahead of the Belgian round, LWOS spoke with Foranoli about what achieving that victory means for him and how he can translate the joy of the event into determination for this weekend:
“Yes, it was a little relief. Finally, I managed to win my first race in F2, and it was very nice. I was very happy about that race, and this win gives me a bit more confidence because now I know that I have the potential to win. Still, it was a sprint race, so it gives me more motivation to try to take something bigger.” – Leonardo Fornaroli to LWOS.
Last year, Spa served as the penultimate round of the Formula 3 season, where Fornaroli took the championship lead. This weekend, he will aim to at least match that performance, if not surpass it.
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Main Photo
- Credit: IMAGO / PsnewZ
- Recording Date: 07/14/2025
