McLaren have announced that Alex Dunne is set to make his F1 weekend debut during FP1 at the Austrian Grand Prix. The 19-year-old will be driving Lando Norris’s MCL39 in the first session of the weekend at Spielberg. So who is Alex Dunne?
Who is Alex Dunne?
Alex Dunne is a McLaren development driver currently competing in F2 with Rodin Motorsport. He was born on November 11, 2005, in Offaly, Republic of Ireland.
The young Irishman started karting at a young age, winning numerous local and national competitions before he even turned 10. He begun racing outside of Ireland after 2015, competing on British and European circuits.
In 2021, Dunne made his single seater racing debut in the Spanish F4 championship. In 2022, he raced in the F4 UAE, Italian and British championships as well. He won the F4 British championship and was the runner up in the Italian championship.
Dunne got an entry in the 2023 GB3 championship, in which he also finished as the runner up. This earned him an opportunity at MP Motorsport for the 2024 F3 season. While the teenager had underwhelming results that year, his potential persuaded McLaren to sign him up to their development program in May 2024.
He made his F2 debut in 2025, and has started the season in brilliant fashion. Dunne has already claimed two feature race wins this year, firstly at Bahrain and the second at Imola. The driver sits at the top of the championship standings as well.
Dunne gets first outing in F1 at Austria
Alex Dunne will compete in his first ever F1 weekend during the FP1 session in Austria on June 27, as announced by McLaren on Monday. This will help fulfill the Papaya team’s mandated requirement of running a rookie in at least four practice sessions during the season.
But the first ever Irish F2 race winner is not jumping into the car to simply fulfill a quota. He is highly rated within the McLaren junior setup.
Pato O’Ward has also already been announced to be running the FP1 session at the Mexican GP later this year. The IndyCar star also competed in this session in front of his home crowd in 2024.
Dunne has already driven the 2023 McLaren car in a private test at Zandvoort in March. Ahead of his F1 debut in Austria, he reportedly also had a second test at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin on June 20.
As previously mentioned, he already has two race wins in F2 this year. The 19-year-old also finished on the podium in the Sprint races at Jeddah and Barcelona. These results mean that Dunne has a three point lead at the top of the standings after six rounds.
Richard Verschoor, in his fifth F2 season, is second. Whereas Red Bull protege Arvid Lindblad is close behind in third.
