“Moneyball” Fornaroli could be “deal of the century” for an F1 workforce

Present System 2 championship chief Leonardo Fornaroli is one thing of a rarity in fashionable motorsport: he's at present within the lead of a top-level junior championship in his first yr, however stays conspicuously unaffiliated to a System 1 academy.

It is a quirk that Invicta workforce principal James Robinson believes is “completely mind-blowing”, as he marked Fornaroli as a possible “Moneyball” selection for any F1 workforce trying to bolster its roster for subsequent season.

The winner of final yr's System 3 championship with Trident, Fornaroli stepped onto the ultimate rung of the ladder earlier than F1 with the Invicta workforce for this yr – the previous Virtuosi outfit had simply taken Gabriel Bortoleto to the title in 2024.

Like Fornaroli, Bortoleto had been the incumbent F3 champion and doubled up on his successes with the F2 title win – which catapulted the Brazilian into F1 with Sauber. Bortoleto had not counted on F1 assist till he received the F3 title, and was promptly signed to McLaren's growth programme.

Regardless of the similarities in path between Fornaroli and Bortoleto, Robinson didn't need to examine them an excessive amount of – however hailed the Italian's consistency and praised his potential to “execute” in races.

“Leo has been phenomenal to work with; throughout the workforce, we might echo that,” Robinson informed Autosport.

“Clearly, for the second yr in a row, we have taken the F3 champion into the workforce. And naturally, your expectations are excessive. Having labored with Gabi final yr, who's displaying his ability stage in F1 now, the expectations had been in all probability unreasonably excessive for Leo. We spent a whole lot of time making an attempt to counterbalance that for his personal sake.

“Really, we discovered that – and I do not need to make too many comparisons to Gabi – his growth has been as sturdy, if not stronger.

“Gabi made a extremely huge step final yr from Melbourne to Imola. I feel Leo took a bit longer to seek out his ft, however then he actually took a giant step ahead simply earlier than Silverstone and Pink Bull Ring. I feel we're actually seeing the fruits of that now.”

Fornaroli notably received final yr's F3 title with out profitable a race and, till Silverstone's dash race this yr, had not received a race in any class since 2021's opening Misano race in Italian System 4. The Piacenza-born racer has since received three races this yr, heading into the summer time break with the characteristic race win on the Hungaroring.

Robinson theorised that Fornaroli's understated type and persona won't have captured speedy consideration, however reckoned that his consistency and strengths could be an ideal match for any F1 workforce.

He termed Fornaroli as a “Moneyball” driver – referring to the time period popularised by a guide and movie about baseball coach Billy Beane, who used intensive information evaluation to construct a profitable workforce from unfancied or unorthodox gamers.

“The distinctive factor about Leo is his potential to execute, and in an unflappable method with out mistake,” Robinson added. “Within the Spa dash race, we had [Victor] Martins who had simply handed [Amaury] Cordeel simply earlier than the protection automobile [which the contact with Cordeel produced] and he was placing in some actually fast laps.

“All of us stated on the pitwall in the course of the security automobile that that is going to be a extremely powerful race to win. However Leo simply received his head down and simply constantly put in lap after lap after lap; by the point the race had ended, he had a four- or five-second lead and he received the race fairly comfortably. And he did precisely the identical within the Hungary characteristic race.”

“I am astounded at this stage, being candid, and that I can't perceive why Leo isn't with an F1 workforce proper now. He would not say this, as a result of once more, he is solely targeted on his subsequent race, so I see it very a lot as a part of my position to say what lots of people in our workforce are considering.

“And it is completely mind-blowing that he hasn't been introduced for an F1 position for subsequent yr already, on condition that many of the different drivers within the prime seven or eight positions within the championship are a part of F1 workforce academies.

“I feel Leo is a little bit of a Moneyball-type choose. He does not do the large banzai strikes that some drivers do. He does not do foolish dances on the rostrum. He is not very outspoken within the media. However having labored in System 1 for 20 years, realizing what F1 groups search for in drivers, Leo is an distinctive man by way of creating a automobile.

“I feel for those who did take a kind of extra Moneyball-style strategy, Leo could be the obvious choose for anyone.

“In case you're trying to develop a automobile, you want a driver that may ship consistency, lap after lap after lap, they can provide you that secure information level. Leo does that higher than anyone in F2 proper now.

“I feel he could be the deal of the century for an F1 workforce at this stage.”