Heading into the 2026 F2 Championship and now the Alpine Academy, Alex Dunne finds himself firmly on the championship radar.
After establishing himself as a contender in 2025, the Irish driver enters his second season in F2 at a critical stage in his career. Now signed under Alpine’s young driver programme, Dunne will be looking for consistency and execution in 2026.
Dunne Joins Alpine
With the first round of the 2026 F2 Season this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, Dunne is there with a new backing. Announced earlier today, The 21 year old will be using his role with Alpine not only for development, but for a hopeful future with the team.
I am really happy to be joining the Alpine Academy and making this next step in my racing career. I am very grateful for the trust the team … which has proven to be the perfect place to progress young drivers into professional racing roles.”
Dunne, who completed two free practice sessions during his time with McLaren has shown hope as one of Ireland’s next biggest stars of motorsport. His finish of fourth in FP1 at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix was one of the defining reasons Flavio Briatore wanted the driver under his development.
“We are pleased to welcome Alex to Alpine as a member of our Academy. His performances in FIA Formula 2 and also his Free Practice sessions in Formula One last year were impressive and he is clearly a very talented young driver with pure, natural speed.”
Dunne will also join Gabriele Mini and Kush Mini as Alpine Juniors racing in the 2026 Formula 2 Season. With Alpine F1 Team needing to complete four rookie practice sessions, we could be seeing Dunne back in a Formula 1 car very soon.
Looking Back on 2025
Dunne was one of the stand out performers of the 2025 F2 Season, with two Feature Race at Bahrain and Imola, two pole positions and eight podiums. Those results were underpinned by Dunne’s raw speed, with the Irishman frequently among the fastest drivers across race stints. When in clear air, he showed the ability to build and manage gaps, marking him as one of the most naturally quick drivers on the 2025 grid.
However, he lacked the consistency of title contenders Leonardo Fornaroli and Jak Crawford. After being involved in one too many incidents, some at top fault of his own, the Irishman had to settle for fifth. The end of the season didn’t come without other challenges. In October 2025, Dunne parted ways with McLaren’s Driver Development Programme.
The Rodin Motorsport driver was said to be in talks with former Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko, however those talks also fell through. Heading into 2026, Dunne is continuing with Rodin, and is now supported by Alpine for his F2 campaign.
Testing Confidence
Following F2 Testing in Barcelona last month, Dunne spoke about his growing confidence and goals for the season.
“I think when you do a second year in a Championship, the second year is to win… I’m more than confident that it is possible.
I was really, really happy with the pace, to be honest. So I think it’s more just trying to improve the little things that we felt could have been better from last year“
Dunne will be one of 11 returning drivers looking to make their mark on the 2026 season. Consequently, with rookies like Rafael Câmara, Colton Herta and Nikola Tsolov stepping into the field, the competition is bound to be tight.
Pre-season testing proved to be a mixed outing for Dunne. While Day One saw flashes of strong underlying pace, with the irishman fifth in the standings. The following days were a struggle that highlighted areas still to refine. While not everything ran smoothly, the overall programme provided valuable data and direction heading into the opening rounds.
Rodin’s Backing
After joining the team in 2025, Dunne has become a standout driver for the team. Out of the 155 points earn by the team in 2025, Dunne secured 150 of them. Dunne also helped the team improve to seventh in the F2 Teams Championship.
Rodin is looking to improve once again in 2026. Rookie Martinius Stenshorne, who finished the 2025 F3 Season in fifth, will join Dunne at Rodin. With two strong drivers, and improved car developments, Rodin are looking to challenge for the title in 2026.
Benn Huntingford, Rodin Motorsports’ Sporting Director, backed his driver to do much the same again this time around. Following F2 Testing, Huntingford spoke to the media about how Alex has progressed since last season.
“Alex has been really good, really focused, just working through the test programme, doing what we need to do, learning what we need to learn, and then focussing on putting a strong season together.”
The focus now shifts to translating that groundwork into consistent results once the championship gets underway. With the 2026 Season commencing this weekend, Dunne will be looking to jump to the top of the standings.
F2 will begin with the only Practice session for the Australian Grand Prix on Thursday at 11pm GMT.
Feature image Credits: Alpine Formula 1 Team