Alex Dunne: Ireland’s Next F1 Driver?
By Emma O’Sullivan, Sports Editor
Irish impact on motorsport, and F1 in particular, has been notable across the history of the series. The highlight of this involvement was with Irish team owner Eddie Jordan and his F1 team, Jordan, who were a staple of F1 in the 90s - from handing seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher his F1 debut in 1991, to finishing 1-2 in Spa in 1998 to achieve the team’s best ever race result - the 7UP sponsorship, and later on their bright yellow liveries, were etched in the history of F1 - all at the hands of an Irishman. However, Irish involvement in the sport has declined significantly. Ralph Firman was the last driver with an Irish racing license to drive at a Grand Prix weekend in 2003, while Eddie Jordan, who sadly passed away in March 2025, sold his team in 2005 to end his Irish team in F1. Since then, no driver has been able to make it as far as securing a drive for many reasons, despite many successful Irish drivers competing in various different racing disciplines across the world.
Within the last four years however, a new crop of Irish single-seater drivers are rising through the ranks in both Europe and America. At the forefront of these drivers is 19-year-old Alex Dunne from Offaly. Competing in F2 this year, Dunne is the junior category which is just below F1 in terms of the series ladder. Not only is this the closest an Irish driver has come to F1 in years, but in May 2024, it was announced that Dunne had signed with McLaren - current F1 Constructors’ World Champions - as part of their Driver Development Programme. You may be wondering , why is this big news? Well, it’s a big deal for a huge number of reasons. Firstly, McLaren have a solid track record of promoting their juniors to F1. includes the likes of Lewis Hamilton in 2007, Lando Norris in 2019, and most recently Gabriel Bortoleto this year, although he is now driving for Sauber. It’s clear they can provide their juniors with tools that enhance their development and can offer coaching to further their skills and provide a positive, knowledgeable environment for these juniors to learn and grow.
One of the most important things in the world of motorsport, alongside talent, is sponsorship. It is nearly impossible to move up through the junior categories without some form of sponsorship assisting you, as this is what funds these junior teams who provide race cars to the drivers. Funding has been an issue in the past for Dunne, hence a somewhat sideways step to the GB3 Championship in 2023 after a successful year in Formula 4 in 2022. The situation around Irish motorsport doesn’t help either. With a lack of Irish success in the sport comes a lack of sponsorship, making it a vicious cycle for drivers. The lack of facilities in Ireland for single-seaters adds to this financial hardship, with drivers having to go to the UK and Europe to gain experience. However, this deal with McLaren ensures financial help from the team to further Dunne’s single-seater career to help reach the professional stage of motorsport.
Another crucial element of being a McLaren junior is the ties the team has with other series. McLaren run a team in each of IndyCar in America, the World Endurance Championship which competes in the 24hrs of Le Mans, and Formula E - a destination for many of those who don't get an opportunity in F1. The Formula E team is of most relevance in this instance, as Dunne is the team’s Reserve and Development Driver for 2025. So far, he has driven the car at a rookie practice session in Jeddah in February of this year. The McLaren Formula E team promoted their Reserve driver last year, Taylor Barnard, to a full-time race seat this year showing that there are so many opportunities as a McLaren driver to grab a race seat at the top level of motorsports, which is very exciting for Irish fans and fans of Alex Dunne!
But how has Dunne gotten to this point? He made his single-seater debut in 2021 in Formula 4, and in 2022 won the British F4 Championship with the Hitech team. He also competed in Italian F4 that same year, which is often seen as the most competitive F4 series in the world, and therefore a true test of talent. He finished runner up that year, with current Mercedes F1 driver Kimi Antonelli beating him to secure the title. Dunne then moved to the GB3 championship in 2023, again with Hitech, where he finished runner-up once more. He then competed in the famous Macau Grand Prix in 2023, where he had a mixed weekend. He managed to finish 2nd in the qualifying race, overtaking at one of the most narrow street tracks in the world. However a crash on the first lap of the main race ended any hopes for a win at Macau for the Irishman.
Dunne made the step up to Formula 3 with MP Motorsport in 2024. This is a big move for any driver as both the F3 and F2 calendars mimic those of the F1 schedule - they race at the tracks F1 race at as ‘support’ series, getting a chance to be broadcasted on Sky Sports for those in Ireland (and the UK) to watch it live. It also provides F1 teams with the opportunity to watch these up-and-coming drivers up close, which clearly benefited Dunne in acquiring a contract with McLaren. The highlights of the F3 season for Dunne included his first F3 podium in Barcelona, when he also became the first Irish driver to achieve this feat in FIA Formula 3, taking a P2 finish in the Sprint Race. The final round in Monza also went pretty well for him, ending the season with a 3rd place finish in the Sprint Race, and a P4 finish in the Feature Race the next day. Dunne finished 14th in the championship due to some unfortunate qualifying results along the way to make his season quite challenging on the whole. However, he still managed to secure an F2 post-season test with Rodin Motorsport off the back of his 2024 season. Dunne returned to Macau in November 2024. Despite a crash during qualifying which put him 18th for the race, he finished in 6th, managing to avoid the usual Macau chaos to finish high in the standings.
Rodin Motorsport announced Dunne as one half of their Formula 2 lineup in February 2025. F2 is even more closely-linked with F1, with 14 of the 24 F1 races featuring F2 as a support series for this year. It is the series that the vast majority of F1 rookies come to the sport from, with all six F1 rookies this year having graduated from F2. In short, it is the place to be to move onto F1 as the next step or to the other top-level series like Formula E and IndyCar. Dunne is driving for Rodin Motorsport who have a history of promoting drivers to F1, Lando Norris being one of the most high-profile examples. Other recent Rodin graduates include Liam Lawson and Logan Sargeant, showing Dunne is set up for success in the best way possible for his time in Formula 2.
The 19 year-old’s F2 campaign got off to a stuttering start in Australia through little fault of his own. Despite putting in a brilliant qualifying performance on debut to line up 5th on the grid, Dunne was handed a 10-place grid penalty due to a team error during preseason testing. He climbed from 15th up to 9th in the Sprint Race, finishing one place outside the points. The Feature Race on Sunday was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather, as was seen in the F1 Grand Prix later that afternoon. The next round will take place at Bahrain in April, a track which saw Zane Maloney and Rodin Motorsport absolutely dominate last year. Will Dunne be able to replicate his qualifying form seen in Australia and get his season going? Irish motorsport fans will surely hope so, as he aims to make a name for himself that F1 teams will simply be unable to ignore.