Alex Dunne hopes to secure his first victory of the season at Silverstone when F2 visits the British circuit, although the Rodin Motorsport driver remains focused on maintaining his consistency in the championship fight.
The Irishman has already achieved several podium finishes at Silverstone, including a second-place finish in the 2025 Feature Race. With a large contingent of Irish supporters expected to attend, the circuit offers Dunne the closest experience he has to competing at a home event.
Dunne has also established himself as a regular contender near the front of the F2 field this season. Three consecutive Feature Race runner-up finishes strengthened his championship challenge, but Rodin’s race pace has appeared less competitive during the opening European rounds.
As he prepares to tackle Silverstone’s high-speed layout, Dunne believes the team can use its experience from last season while continuing to investigate its recent performance.
Silverstone offers Dunne a taste of a home race
Dunne does not have an Irish round on the F2 calendar, making Silverstone particularly important to him. The presence of Irish fans and familiar faces creates a distinctive atmosphere for the Rodin driver.
“It would be nice. I don’t think I’ve won here before, so it would definitely be nice. I don’t have a home race, so it’s the closest thing that will feel like that. It has the most Irish people here, the most Irish flags when I’m racing, and a lot of Irish people that I know come here to watch me. So it’s definitely the closest I’ll get to in terms of feeling like a home race.”
“So to win here would be very, very nice. But at the same time, I think there’s no point in adding any expectation to that. It’s the same as every weekend, just go out and do our best.”
Dunne therefore intends to approach the weekend without placing additional pressure on himself. Although victory would carry extra significance, he wants to follow the same process that has kept him near the front throughout the season.
Dunne refuses to view second places negatively
Dunne finished second in three consecutive Feature Races in Monaco, Barcelona and Montreal. While that run demonstrated his ability to score consistently, repeatedly falling just short of victory could easily create frustration.
The Irishman instead wants to recognise the value of those results and avoid allowing his pursuit of a win to affect his approach.
“We finished second three times in a row in the Feature Race. Even with that it’s very easy to look at it in a negative way rather than thinking of it positively and thinking you finish second every weekend, which is good.”
“You can also put yourself in a spiral and think I’m not winning, what do we need to do to win. For me, it’s important to not think about it like that. Of course, if we’re in a position to win, we’ll do our best to maximise it and make sure it can happen. But trying to go out every weekend and finish there or thereabouts and bring home good points is what we can do, and it’s what I need to do.”
That consistency could prove decisive as the title fight develops. Rather than chasing a breakthrough result at any cost, Dunne wants to continue collecting strong points and capitalise whenever a clear opportunity to win emerges.
Confidence will prove crucial around Silverstone
Silverstone’s sequence of fast corners places a premium on a driver’s confidence in the car. Dunne expects slightly warmer conditions than F2 encountered during its previous visit, but he does not anticipate a significant change in how he must approach the Silverstone circuit.
“I think it will be a little bit hotter, but I think the general way of driving is going to be much the same, or at least I expect it to be very similar to what we had last year.”
“We will approach it in the same way we do every weekend, really build up into it nicely. It’s quite a high-speed track, so it’s one where confidence and comfort matter quite a lot, especially through Turn 9 and then Maggots and Becketts. I think what we learned last year we’ll definitely be able to bring forward this year.”
Dunne’s podium at the circuit last season gives Rodin a useful foundation. However, the team must ensure the car gives him enough confidence to attack Silverstone’s fastest sections, where small hesitations can produce a considerable loss of lap time.
Rodin working to understand its changing race pace
Rodin began the season with strong race performance, but Dunne believes the team has lost some of that advantage since the championship arrived in Europe. The Austrian Feature Race highlighted those concerns. Dunne started from the front row after showing strong qualifying pace but slipped to sixth by the finish.
“As a team we always expect to be strong in the races. But then going into Austria in the Feature Race, last year I went from seventh to second, so this year I was pretty confident that starting on the front row I would at least be able to finish there. In the end we finished sixth. Things are changing every year, people are sometimes quicker, they’re sometimes slower. Conditions are always different, so it’s hard to say.”
“Generally our race pace up until Monaco was really, really good. I think the first three rounds of the year we were really quick. Then I would say the first three European rounds of the year, our race pace has been a little bit worse.”
“Most weekends this year have been hotter than they were last year, so that could be a factor as well. So it’s just about trying to understand why that is and how we can fix it. But we’ve been able to do it in the past, so I’m not too worried about that to be honest.”
Higher temperatures may have contributed to the change, but Dunne does not want to draw conclusions before Rodin completes its analysis. The team has previously produced competitive race cars, giving him confidence that it can address the issue.
Consistency becoming increasingly important in the title fight
Dunne believes the leading championship contenders have already separated themselves from the rest of the field. Their ability to remain competitive across different circuits has made consistency even more valuable than in previous F2 seasons.
“The main drivers who are going to be there for the rest of the year, I think everyone knows who they are,” Dunne added. “But the goal is to try and be as consistent as possible and try to beat them as much as you can. At the moment, the main drivers at the front have all been very quick and very consistent every weekend. After my first two rounds, none of them or myself have had a bad weekend since then. Everyone has always been there.”
“We’re battling in qualifying, and we’ve had a good race or a podium here and there. So in general, consistency in this championship is always very important. But this year, I feel like it matters more than it has in previous years because all the drivers that are fighting at the sharp end are there every weekend.”
With his closest rivals regularly qualifying and racing near the front, Dunne knows one difficult weekend could have a significant effect on his championship position. A Silverstone F2 victory would provide a memorable breakthrough, but another strong points haul would also keep Dunne firmly involved in the fight.
