Who is Alex Dunne? All about McLaren's 18 year old prodigy

Alex Dunne, the rookie driver who subbed in for Lando Norris at the FP1 session in Austria, turned heads with his stellar pace. The 18-year-old is the first time an Irish driver has appeared in the F1 landscape since Ralph Firman in 2003, so the hype surrounding the F2 championship leader surged in the paddock.

Dunne began karting at the age of eight, and after achieving great success in go-karts, he moved to the Formula series in Europe. After taking his freshman year to dwell on the car, he won the British F4 championship in 2022, which got him onto the radar of the teams.

He then spent the following years climbing the junior racing ladder and joined the McLaren driver development programme last year. Though he did not have a great year in the F3 championship, he made the step up to F2 this year and has impressed the paddock so far.

In the 11 race starts he has made so far, the Irish driver has won twice and leads the F2 championship standings as a rookie by 3 points to experienced Richard Verschoor. Reflecting on his FP1 session outing in the McLaren MCL39, where he finished fourth in the session just behind Oscar Piastri, the teenager said:

"I think it's safe to say it went pretty well. I think we knew going through the session that the goal wasn't necessarily for the performance, it was more to help out with the car, help Lando [Norris]... So, to have the pace that I had and show what I'm capable of on the F1 stage is something pretty special."

Dunne helped McLaren take home a 3-4 result for the FP1 session at the Red Bull Ring.

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How did McLaren perceive Alex Dunne's initial pace in the MCL39?

McLaren's Alex Dunne at the FP1 session in Red Bull Ring, Austria - Source: Getty

Though George Russell and Max Verstappen occupied the top spots in the timing charts, McLaren was less than two-tenths away from early frontrunners. Many expected Oscar Piastri to lead the papaya duo, but Alex Dunne's impressive performance helped him become a huge talking point in the paddock.

The Irish driver was less than seven-hundredths of a second behind the F1 championship leader, leading to team principal Andrea Stella admitting that Alex Dunne had dazzled the team in a post-FP1 interview:

"So in all this, Alex has been quite diligent and impressive. And then he had also the chance to show some speed and no surprise, he is a fast driver. I think we need to be a bit careful looking at the lap times because his lap time came later on in the stint when the fuel was down."

"But I think encouraging and impressive in terms of Alex himself and also I think a good session for McLaren. So we look forward to the reminder of this event."

Meanwhile, Dunne would race in the Austrian GP weekend for Rodin Motorsport in the F2 camp.