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Alex Dunne walked away from his first minutes in a Formula 1 car quietly pleased with himself. There was a smile on his face, not just because he'd just tested an F1 car, but because of how quickly he'd gotten to grips with the upgrade in machinery. 

It’s been an impressive 14 months for the Irish-born racer, which has included him joining the McLaren Driver Development Programme, stepping up to and becoming a Formula 2 race winner, and being appointed as NEOM McLaren’s Test and Reserve Driver in Formula E, but this was his biggest moment to date.

Last month, at a Driver Development test in the Netherlands, Alex got behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the first time. It was a significant milestone in his career and is now set to lead into an even bigger one. The test was primarily aimed at helping his overall development as a driver, but also acted as preparation and proof that he was ready for the real thing.

Alex was back in the car for another test in Austin last week, and it has now been announced that he will drive contemporary F1 machinery for the first time in this week’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the Irish racer stepping into our 2025 challenger for Free Practice 1. His stint in the MCL39 is a part of the Sporting Regulation requirement to field a rookie driver in at least four FP1 sessions a season.

Ahead of Alex’s competitive Formula 1 debut, we looked at how his first mileage in a Formula 1 car unfolded, and how it’s prepared him for this weekend’s outing.

How he’s taken each step in his stride 

Each milestone has been handled with impressive maturity. Speaking shortly after his first full day of testing in the MCL36, Alex is calm and considered, discussing his preparation for and time in the MCL60 at length.

Having undergone extensive training in the simulator, Alex was confident in his ability to adapt to F1 machinery, but he and the team were realistic about how long it would take him to get up to speed.

His programme was slated to start with a series of learning laps, before he gradually built up speed. As he put our 2023 Formula 1 car through its paces around Zandvoort, Alex felt confident earlier than expected, enjoying the grip he felt between his boots and the tarmac, and was able to put his foot down sooner than anticipated.

“I like to think that I generally adapt to new things pretty quickly, but even so, the step up to a Formula 1 car is not something that you can really prepare yourself for,” Alex says of the test in Zandvoort. “You can drive in the sim, but there’s a lot you don’t get when you’re in the sim – there’s the confidence factor, the G-force, etc.

“So, I expected it to take a little longer to build into the test. But, straight away, I felt quite comfortable in the car, probably by the third lap. It felt pretty natural, and I felt at ease in the car, which made the rest of the day very comfortable.

“I thought that level of comfort would take much longer because of how big the jump is, but straight away, I was already quite close to where I wanted to be. The car inspires confidence because it has so much grip, so it was easier to trust than I expected.”

 

A day to remember 🥹

Development driver, Alex Dunne, chats through his first-ever experience in an F1 car 🤩#McLaren pic.twitter.com/DUuPH8AoIP

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) May 11, 2025

The MCL60 is the second senior single-seater Alex has driven, after he ran Formula E’s GEN3 Evo cars in Free Practice 0 at the Jeddah E-Prix. Alex was back in the MCL60 at a Driver Development Test in Austin last week and will drive the GEN3 Evo again in Berlin on Monday, 14 July, in Formula E’s Rookie Test.

While partially a reward for his progress over the last 12 months, these outings are primarily a development opportunity for Alex, designed to enhance his skills as a driver. Each of these experiences can be considered key steps in his progression, presenting a variety of challenges, not least his ability to switch between cars.

“Naturally, this test has helped me to develop a lot,” Alex says of his time in Zandvoort. “Some of the traits of the F2 car are similar, and so bits from this test can be carried over. It’s been good to drive an F1 car and learn how to drive one, but it’s also been another opportunity to practice and improve overall. I think it can help me to better this year in F2, because some things are a little similar.

“In terms of the Formula E tests, the cars are so different that you can’t really carry over anything to F2 in that sense, but you learn a lot from driving different cars and experiencing something new, while working with different people. It tests you as a driver.”

On his time in the F1 car specifically, Alex added: “The speed of an F1 car is pretty incredible. You are probably approaching corners 60km/h faster than in F2. Mentally, as a driver, you need to have a lot of trust in the car to understand that it is capable of carrying that amount of speed.

“I already had an expectation of the car, but it still exceeded expectations, in terms of how insane it actually is. I had watched all the onboards from Lando’s Pole lap in Zandvoort before driving the circuit, and you can visibly see how much speed they are carrying. However, when you feel it, that’s pretty crazy. It was a massive jump from anything I have ever driven before.”

The progress that earned him these opportunities

Leading the Formula 2 Championship on 87 points, it’s been a breakthrough season for Alex. After winning the British F4 Championship in 2022, finishing second in Italian F4 that same year, and second again in GB3 the following season, he progressed to Formula 3, where he was racing on Formula 1 weekends for the first time. It was considered a learning year for Alex, rather than being a primarily results-driven exercise.

Early in the season, he was earmarked by McLaren for a place in our Driver Development Programme, before officially joining in May 2024. From here, the team has worked closely with him and monitored his progress, deeming him ready for promotion to F2 in 2025.

After a strong finish to his rookie F3 campaign, which included a podium and three consecutive points-scoring results, he linked up with Rodin Motorsport for his F2 debut in 2025.

Following a mixed start across the opening three rounds, where he failed to register any points, Alex claimed a landmark first Feature Race victory in Round 4. This kickstarted a streak of five straight points finishes, including another win in Round 4, and earned him the Championship lead. The 19-year-old is aiming to follow in the footsteps of McLaren Driver Development Programme graduate Gabriel Bortoleto, who won the F2 title in his rookie season.

He has dovetailed this with his role as NEOM McLaren’s Test and Reserve Driver and increased time on McLaren’s F1 and FE simulators, all of which led to a maiden F1 test in Zandvoort.

“It isn’t very often that a driver gets the chance to drive an F1 car, let alone a McLaren, so to get the opportunity, through the Driver Development Programme, has been nice,” Alex says. “It’s nice to see how much belief they have in me and how many opportunities I’m being given, which isn’t something that many drivers my age get to experience. I am very, very proud and thankful.”

The importance of Alex’s Driver Development Test in Zandvoort

Alex’s two stints in the F1 car, in the Netherlands and in Austin, is part of our Testing of Previous Cars programme, also known as a TPC. These allow teams to run Formula 1 machinery away from the spotlight of a Grand Prix weekend, which can be a valuable learning experience for both teams and drivers.

Typically, they involve a variety of different runs, from Qualifying to race simulations, and more specific elements tailored to improve a driver’s technique behind the wheel.

“Initially, we started by making sure I was getting used to the car and that I understood everything,” Alex says of the test in the Netherlands. “If there was anything in my driving technique that needed work, we focused on improving this straight away. It was mostly about understanding the car, including all the switches on the steering wheel and all the finer details.

“Following this, we did some performance runs, which were about working out what I needed to improve, but also what I was already doing relatively well. As the day went on, I was very happy with how I improved.

“Every time there was a minor detail I could improve, or a small problem, I looked through the data with the engineers and then, when I got back into the car, we worked to fix that – and most of the time, we did. It was very important to try and iron out any issues and fix them straight away. I was really happy with how we did that and was generally pleased with my progress throughout the day.

“It was important to approach the test thoughtfully, to build up slowly, and to listen to what the engineers were telling me – to read the data well, and if something doesn’t make sense, ask questions. I wanted to understand exactly what the team were telling me and to learn from it. Run after run, I feel like I kept on improving.”

Alex has been preparing for this goal for some time and will be able to draw upon the groundwork laid ahead of his tests in the Netherlands and Austin. This season, he’s enjoyed increased hours in the simulator, adapted his training accordingly, and spent more time with the engineers, analysing the available data.

“The main thing is the time in the sim, which has helped me a lot,” Alex said. “The McLaren sim is more advanced than anything I have experienced before and has helped massively with preparation. It helped hugely in those first few laps. I could ask questions beforehand and knew what to expect. We spent time looking at onboards, going through data, and just made sure I knew what I was doing.

“Physically, I was already training a lot, but I knew I would need to work on my neck more, and so I trained my neck even more than I thought I would need to, just to be 100% sure there weren’t any issues, which there weren’t.”

Fans will be able to watch Alex make his competitive Formula 1 debut at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix when he takes to the MCL39 for Free Practice 1 at 13:30 local time.