McLaren’s driver at Rodin Motorsport, Alex Dunne, is at this time dominating the 2025 campaign in Formula 2. The Irish driver surely earned his place on the top as he developed fast throughout the years. At the Monaco E-Prix, FFN had the opportunity to interview the Irishman.
His career — The impact of signing with McLaren
Alexander Dunne was born in November 2005 in Ireland. His motorsports career started in 2013 with Karting, where he achieved many milestones. In 2021 the Irishman started single-seater racing in Spanish F4 (17th), participated in the ADAC F4 (8th), later, in 2022, he moved to F4 UAE (5th), Italian F4 (4th) and F4 British (champion).
The following year he competed in the GB3 Championship (2nd) and made his debut at the 2023 Macau Grand Prix in F3 (retired). In 2024, he debuted with MP Motorsports in F3 (14th) and finished Macau Grand Prix, FIA FR World Cup 8th, whilst being part of the McLaren Driver Development Program.
Since the beginning of 2025, he has been racing for Rodin Motorsport in FIA F2 and a NEOM McLaren Formula E Team Test and Reserve driver. The Irish driver had received a lot of support from McLaren since he signed the contract, helping him and his family tremendously.
“I don’t think I’d be in F2 or F3 without McLaren. I think financially, as a driver and with my family as well, it’s something we’ve struggled quite a lot through the ranks and each year it’s kind of gotten harder and harder as the expenses go up.”, he admitted.
“[…] When I signed with McLaren at the beginning of F3 […] they’ve helped us a lot on that side of things. Naturally, I think that’s what a lot of junior teams do for their drivers. I think McLaren has really helped me out a lot in that aspect.”
“But also just in general, you know, sim work, fitness, things like that, just in general being a McLaren.”
“I think they helped me a lot last year, but more so this year. I guess also being the only McLaren driver in F2. They’ve really pushed it on.“
“Zak and Andrea are helping me out a lot, and they’ve given me a lot of opportunities, so it’s very, very important to me.”
The first successful driver since Derek Daly
After Derek Daly, there were a few other Irish drivers participating in Formula 1. However, Daly was undoubtedly the most successful.
Alex Dunne is the first Irish driver to participate in Formula 2, since the series’ debut in 2017. Having an Irish driver on the grid is therefore very special — he is the pride of Ireland, some might say.
Winning in Bahrain, the first feature race of the year (Melbourne was cancelled), boosted his popularity instantly.
“It was pretty […] I think my phone, for the next three hours, was exploding, […] all the messages I got and all the stuff I saw was really, really nice.“
“When I was on the podium, on the other side of the track, there were loads of people screaming and holding a tricolour for me. So, it was super cool and something I’m really proud to see.“
“As I’ve gotten through the years, I’ve gotten more and more support from home and people have come on board, so it’s really nice to see”
Bahrain was the first time in a while that the Irish national anthem was played on a Formula podium.
“Yeah, it is cool. I think just all the messages I got of people saying how proud they were and how cool it was to hear the Irish national anthem on the podium. Even for me to hear it, it was really nice. So, I couldn’t be prouder.”
There were a total of five Formula 1 drivers before Alex Dunne:
- Joe Kelley (1950-1951): entered 2 races, started none
- Derek Daly (1978-1982): entered 64 races, started in 49, scored 25 points
- David Kennedy (1980): entered 7 races, started in none of them
- Tommy Byrne (1982): entered 5 races, started in 2, no points
- Ralph Firman (2003): entered 15 races, started 14, scored 1 point
Not on the list is Eddie Irvine (1993-2002), who was born in Northern Ireland, had a British passport for years, but identifies himself as Irish as he raced with an Irish race licence.
F2 and FE in 2025
The 2025 F2 campaign started in Melbourne, Australia back in March. Since then, Alex Dunne had gathered points after points, improving fast after a rough start. By the time of the Monaco E-Prix on May 4th, the Irishman had already won half of the Feature races. He had 35 championship points to his name and finished on the podium in Jeddah.
“I think every weekend I’ve gotten better and improved and there’s still stuff to improve on even so, but no, I think it’s not a bad place to be.”
Just two weeks after the interview, Dunne smashed it in Imola, winning the feature race, beating Luke Browning, Hitech TGR, by just seven seconds.
Unfortunately, Dunne’s lowest point of his rookie F2 season came in Monaco, when he was involved in a major accident and was subsequently penalised. Despite intense criticism, he recovered well in Barcelona, proving his talent and potential.
With a 10-place and 3-place grid-Penalty given, he started on P19 and cleared his opponents in ease throughout the race. He finished second, just 0.38 seconds slower than Sprint race winner Richard Verschoor, MP Motorsports. In the feature race he remained calm, and finished where he started on P5.
With that, the Irishman proved that he is not defined by his mistakes, that he can move on.
What the future could bring for the 19-year-old
At the moment, Alex Dunne is looking at 87 championship points in the standings. Closely followed by Verschoor with 84 and Arvid Lindblad with 79 points.
“We’ve ticked off a win pretty early, so a couple more of those would be nice. I think I just want to stay calm and score points.”, he said.
“Now, I don’t want to talk about the championship, but realistically I’m in the fight, so I think it doesn’t make sense to go out and do silly things and have a crash or a spin or whatever.”
As he is a rookie, becoming a F1 driver by 2026 is highly unlikely, despite his skills on track. With him being a reserve driver for NEOM McLaren FE Team, the Irishman has multiple paths for the future, Formula 1 and Formula E.
“I think, for me, the ultimate goal is still Formula 1. I want to be a Formula 1 driver. But I think if for whatever reason that wasn’t possible, then it would be a cool opportunity.“
“You know, I don’t want to make it sound like I’d only do it if I don’t make it to Formula 1. Because then it sounds like I’m belittling the championship, which isn’t the case. But I think, for me, the goal is to make it to Formula 1.“
“And I think there are a lot of factors that need to go right for you to make it to Formula 1. […] If some of those things don’t align, then I think it would be a cool championship to do.”
As not even the first half of the F2 campaign is done, Dunne knows not to get ahead of himself.
“I think it just makes sense to stay calm and try to score points. And if the best I can finish is third, then finish third and don’t go crazy trying to finish second.
“And the same thing with a win, you know, it’s just take what you have and bring home the points. So, I would say that’s the goal for the rest of the year.”
