Dunne dusted off for McLaren FP1 outing at Austrian GP

Formula 2 championship leader Alex Dunne will make his Formula 1 free practice debut with McLaren at the Austrian Grand Prix, taking Lando Norris’ seat for Friday’s FP1 session.

The Irishman is in his first F2 season, having stepped up to the series with Rodin after a single season of F3. This continues his rapid progression through the junior series ranks, in which he won 2022’s British F4 championship – he dovetailed this with a season in Italian F4, where he finished second to Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

This preceded his step up to the GB3 Championship, where he finished as runner up in 2023. He joined McLaren’s young driver scheme in 2024, where he also serves as a reserve driver for the brand’s Formula E project.

With two feature race wins, Dunne currently sits three points ahead of F2 series veteran Richard Verschoor; although responsible for a pile-up at this year’s Monaco feature race, he bounced back at Barcelona to retake the championship lead.

The Offaly-born driver has also driven McLaren’s 2023 car at Zandvoort as part of its testing of previous cars (TPC) programme.

“I’ve been preparing well for the sessions, taking part in Testing of Previous Cars tests in the MCL60 and spending time on the simulator, which has been a fantastic learning experience,” said Dunne.

“Thank you to Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella] and Alessandro [Alunni Bravi] for their faith in me. It’s a great step within my development with the McLaren Driver Development Programme, and I’m really excited to join the team trackside.”

Stella added: “It’s great to be able to give Alex the opportunity to run in FP1, and for him to get valuable time behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car as part of his development.

“The team are pleased to be working with him more closely, and for his support across the weekend, where he will be providing useful feedback to help with the car’s set-up.

“The rookie sessions are fantastic for seeing the talent of tomorrow and enabling that rare chance to get time in a current car, so we look forward to seeing him on track.”

Dunne’s F2 rival and Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic will also join the FP1 proceedings in Austria, taking Charles Leclerc’s seat for the session.

The Swede will make his second appearance in lieu of Leclerc; with updates to the FP1 regulations for 2025, each race driver must now sit out two rounds each. He took the Monegasque’s seat in Bahrain, where he placed 14th in the times.