Alex Dunne has been used to finishing regularly at the front of the field in what has been an impressive junior career thus far.
The Irishman displayed sheer dominance in 2022 by winning the F4 British Championship with 11 wins, 11 pole positions, 11 fastest laps and 17 podiums in 27 races. Despite not running in the final three races at Brands Hatch, Dunne won the title over Oliver Gray by 69 points.
The 18-year-old finished runner-up in Italian F4 that same year with three wins 11 podiums. For 2023, he made the move to the GB3 Championship, claiming five victories as he finished second to Callum Voisin by 18 points.
His impressive performances earned him a spot on the Formula 3 grid for the 2024 season, joining MP Motorsport alongside Tim Tramnitz and Kacper Sztuka. Dunne would also go on to join the McLaren Driver Development Programme in May.
But in his debut season, Dunne was unable to replicate his previous success as he finished down in 14th in the standings.
Alex Dunne says staying in sequence is key to being at the front in Formula 3
By his own admission, Dunne had a difficult debut campaign in F3 as he failed to secure a win in 2024.
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However, the Irishman did secure two podiums, finishing second in the Sprint Race at Catalunya and third in the Sprint Race at Monza.
The final race of the season in Italy would prove to be Dunne’s ‘best weekend in F3 as he finished fourth in the Feature Race following his second podium of the year. Speaking with the F3 website, the 18-year-old discussed what he has found out about how to get to the front in the category.
“To do a good job in F3, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to stay in sequence and if you maximise as a driver, you’ll be at the front.
“So then in Monza, to qualify on Pole in my group and then have two solid results – to be on the front row for both of those weekends, to have that bit of consistency that started to come a little bit more, we had it.
“We had a good plan, nothing got in our way, and we were able to do the right thing from start to finish, so to have that consistency to go along with the pace being really strong was nice.”
Alex Dunne had an inconsistent debut season in Formula 3
Dunne began the 2024 season with 12th place in the Sprint Race in the season opener in Bahrain, before finishing ninth in the Feature Race.
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After finishing seventh in the Sprint Race in Melbourne, Dunne went five races without points, before enjoying two solid weekends at Catalunya and Spielberg, scoring his first podium in the former.
However, these points in Spain and Austria were followed by another five-race pointless streak, finishing outside the top 15 in all of them.
After a strong end to the year at Monza, Dunne is determined to have a more consistent season in 2025.