Alexander 'Alex' Dunne is an Irish racing driver from County Offaly, the son of two-time Irish Formula Ford champion Noel Dunne, and one of the most coveted talents on the FIA single-seater ladder.
The climb
Dunne was a serial junior winner before he reached F3. He began karting at eight and collected national titles, his standout result the 2019 WSK Champions Cup in the OK-Junior class. Stepping into cars, he spread his 2021 season across Spanish and ADAC F4 to learn his trade, then exploded in 2022: eleven wins and the British F4 title, runner-up in Italian F4 with three more victories, and a strong showing in F4 UAE over the winter. In 2023 he was runner-up in GB3 with five victories in his rookie season, a result that confirmed him as one of Ireland's most exciting single-seater prospects in years.
Formula 3
He stepped up to FIA Formula 3 in 2024 with MP Motorsport, taking two sprint-race podiums (Barcelona and Monza) for 14th in the standings. Mid-season, ahead of the Imola round, McLaren added him to its Driver Development Programme.
Formula 2
In 2025 Dunne went straight to FIA Formula 2 with Rodin Motorsport and was a revelation as a rookie: two feature-race wins, two poles and a remarkable thirteen podiums left him fifth in the championship, 61 points behind champion Leonardo Fornaroli. The breakthrough earned a Formula 1 free-practice debut for McLaren at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, where he ran fourth-fastest, with a second FP1 outing at Monza. Then, ahead of the Singapore weekend, McLaren abruptly released him from its programme — a decision Dunne later called the 'right' one.
2026 / current season
Dunne re-signed with Rodin for a second F2 campaign, now partnering Martinius Stenshorne, and in February 2026 switched allegiance to the Alpine Driver Academy, confirmed on 4 March before the Melbourne opener. Through the early rounds he sits fourth in the standings on 67 points, still firmly in the conversation for a future grand-prix seat thanks to his blend of raw qualifying speed and aggressive, mature racecraft that marked him out across both F3 and F2.