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Irish teenager Alex Dunne played during his beginnings in Formula 1 practice at the Austrian Grand Prix for McLaren with a performance that could have put him in the running for a 2026 siege on the grid.
Friday, Dunne replaced Lando Norris first training while McLaren chose to check one of their four compulsory sessions where a recruit must participate.
The 19 -year -old took advantage of his opportunities and took an extremely impressive fourth place, less than a tenth of a second behind the leader of the Oscar Pisatri championship in the same machinery.
Usually, the recruit drivers are far from the pace and finish the session near the rear, so Dunne’s performances were catchy.
“I mean a big thank you, you had the dream of a little boy. It is certainly the best day of my life,” said Dunne on the radio when he returned to the garage at the end of the session.
“Thank you all for letting me do this and also thank you to Lando for trusting me with his car. It means a lot.”
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The driver of the McLaren Dunne reserve was due after finishing fourth when opening in Austria
Who is Alex Dunne?
Born on November 11, 2005 in Offley, Dunne quickly crossed the ranks of karting and jumped at the opportunity to drive in formula 4 to 15 years – the minimum age that you can lead to this level.
He took pole position and a podium during his beginnings to a single lead in F4, then dominated the British season F4 in 2022 as the interest increased.
Dunne was a finalist of Kimi Antonelli in Italian F4 the same year, then finished second in the GB3 championship in 2023. Although he had trouble shining regularly in F3, McLaren signed him in May 2024 and that Dunne took the step in F2 with Rodin Motorsport this year.
He should not be a title challenger, but finds himself at the top of the ranking before the races of this weekend in Austria after two impressive racing victories in Bahrain and Imola, plus two other podiums.
However, he was tried in fault for a turn incident 1 in the Monaco feature films race against Victor Martins, which caused an accumulation. Dunne was strongly criticized on social networks, which led him to delete applications on her phone.
“I had a lot after Monaco, normally I am not someone who reads things and is bored,” he said.
“But I think that an hour after the race, I deleted the social media on my phone because I have never received such bad messages in my life. Many things I got were really bad and quite overwhelming, to be honest.”
Dunne rebounded by a grid penalty for the Monaco incident stealing in the field of 19th to second place in the Sprint F2 in Spain and took fifth place in the race of feature films to keep her championship advance before the seventh round in Austria this weekend.
Dunne “ very satisfied ” of the F1 output
McLaren ran Dunne on hard tires for the majority of the first practice in Austria before adapting to a relatively fresh set of softs for the last part of the session, where Dunne has reached fourth place.
“It was not a bad turn. It was not also new soft tires, so there are a lot of positive points to take,” said Dunne, who will return to action in the Sprint F2 on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. Sky Sports F1.
“Of course, if I get into the car again, I went faster.
“Whatever the performance and the pace at the end, I am just happier than it is a clean session. There was no accident, I did not have on the way.
“All the things we needed to test at first went well and plan. On this side, I was very happy.”
Norris impressed by Dunne
Norris sat down on the wall of the pit by looking at his car driven in the first practice, but his loss of track time had no impact, partly thanks to the sweetness with which Dunne carried out her work.
The British driver ended more quickly by 0.157 of Piastri in practice two, and credited Dunne for the comments he had provided.
“The car felt good on the part,” said Norris. “Alex gave good comments this morning after FP1 and he was immediately at the pace, so it was good to see.”
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Lando Norris was fully complimentary of Irish Recruit Dunne for her useful comments during P1
The director of the Andrea Stella team explained that Dunne had tested McLaren upgrades for Austria and also carried out rake work as planned.
“In all of this, Alex was quite diligent and impressive. And then he also had the chance to show speed and, without surprise, he is a quick driver,” said Stella.
“I think we have to be a little careful by looking at the times on the turn, because it came later in the passage when the fuel was down.
“But I think encouraging and impressive in terms of Alex himself, and I also think of a good session for McLaren.”
Chandhok: McLaren should conclude an agreement with Cadillac
Norris and Piastri both have contracts for 2026, so there is no room in McLaren for Dunne for the moment.
However, he can encourage himself on the path of the product of the Ferrari Academy Oliver Bearman, who impressed in the practice sessions for Haas and standing for Ferrari before receiving a seat with the first.
Although nothing is certain in F1, as shown by the multiple changes to the seats that we have attended in the first stages of this season, the most obvious opportunity for Dunne could be with the 11th sports team, Cadillac, which joined the grid in 2026.
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Protective facts of Friday training sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix
Sky Sports F1 Karun Chandhok thinks McLaren should try to find a way to lend Dunne.
“If I were McLaren now, I would try to conclude an agreement with Cadillac or someone like that to cultivate it,” said Chandhok.
“Based on everything he has shown. He is the leader of the F2 championship. They have seen potential in tests, we see it publicly today.
“You want to find a seat somewhere to build a race experience. I would try to get him an agreement elsewhere for a while.
“Elect it, ask it on a kind of attachment that they can bring it back, the way Mercedes has done with George Russell in the past.”
Austrian GP schedule of Sky Sports F1
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Return to some of the most dramatic moments over the years at the Austrian Grand Prix
Saturday June 28
9 am: F3 Sprint
11:15 p.m.: Austrichia GP practices three (the session starts at 11:30 am)
1:10 p.m.: F2 Sprint
2:15 p.m.: Austrian GP qualification accumulation *
3 p.m.: Austrian GP qualification *
5 p.m.: Ted’s qualification book
Sunday June 29
7:25 am: F3 functionalities race
8:55 am: F2 functionality breed
10:40 am: Porsche Supercup
12:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: Austria GP Build-Up *
2 p.m.: The Austrian Grand Prix *
4 p.m.: Checkered flag: Austrian GP reaction *
5 p.m.: Ted’s notebook
* Also on the main event of Sky Sports
The next step for the Formula 1 2025 season is a return to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix, which is live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract, cancel at any time.
