![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/400b98bf-0cb8-4a81-b5ff-5ac03e95c592.jpg\")
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Alex Dunne. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Alex Dunne, one of Ireland\u2019s most promising young racing drivers, has taken a major step forward in his motorsport career after undertaking a test drive in a McLaren Formula 1 car. The 19-year-old, who joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme in 2024, was given the opportunity as part of the team\u2019s initiative to assess and cultivate future F1 talent.<\/p>\n
The test, held at the 4.259-kilometre Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, marked Dunne\u2019s first experience behind the wheel of an F1 machine, a significant milestone that further strengthens his ties with the iconic British outfit.<\/p>\n
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The test comes on the heels of a breakthrough season for Dunne in junior formulae. After a dominant title-winning campaign in British F4 in 2022 and a solid showing in FIA Formula 3 in 2024 with MP Motorsport, he quickly emerged as a driver to watch and was given a Formula 2 seat at the Rodin Motorsport team for this season. <\/p>\n
Additionally, Dunne serves as the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team\u2019s Reserve and Development Driver, contributing to the team’s development efforts and gaining experience in electric racing.<\/p>\n
The Offaly native has since sealed his first win in the main supporting category to F1 with victory at the Bahrain International Circuit last month, having started fourth on the grid. This victory not only marked Dunne’s debut win in F2 but also made him the first Irish driver to claim a race in the series.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his triumph, Dunne said, “I have no words, to be honest. All the race runs in testing were quite positive, I knew the pace was there to do something good but I didn’t expect this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his chances of winning the F2 championship outright, he added: “It’s too early to say.”<\/p>\n
“I think I’m driving at a good level at the minute, so I feel if I can continue the good form then I don’t see why we won’t be contenders.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Dunne. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki\/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Alex Dunne, one of Ireland\u2019s most promising young racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,6686,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-83447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114469865104366464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}