Alex Dunne will start Sunday’s 2026 F2 Feature Race from P2 at the British GP. For the second year in a row, he missed out on pole but secured a front row position.
In practice, the Irishman was fastest of all. On the first run in qualifying, he was P1 once more.
However, significant improvements came on the second set of tyres. Critically for the 20-year-old, he made a big gain himself, although he ended 0.201s behind polesitter Rafael Câmara. He was a thousandth second ahead of Kush Maini.
Not an easy qualifying but a strong result at the 2026 F2 British GP round
Speaking to Pit Debrief and other media outlets post-qualifying, Alex Dunne explained how difficult the session was despite running at the front all the way through.
“No [not happy with the lap]. I think in general the session wasn’t that easy.
“We were P1 after run 1, which is nice, but I think we struggled a little bit with the balance to get it quite in the window of where I was happy with it. So I think for that final run I was kind of trying to maybe drag something out of it which wasn’t quite there.
“We made a change for the final run, and it was a little bit better, but I think in the end I wasn’t quite as comfortable as I would have liked to have been. And then with that it made it putting the lap together quite difficult, so it wasn’t a great lap to be honest.
“But I think to add to the consistency that we’ve had in quali and be there in the top two again is nice.
“It wasn’t the easiest of sessions, and I wouldn’t say I’m particularly happy with it, but again, to not be over the moon and still be P2 is not a bad place to be.”
Incredible consistency in F2 qualifying in 2026
Silverstone marks round 7 of the 2026 F2 season. The driver from Offaly has finished in the top 4 in every qualifying session so far this year. Nonetheless, he is yet to take a pole position.
Looking back at his consistency so far, Dunne praised the work of Rodin Motorsport for the job they are doing.
“Yeah, I mean we haven’t qualified outside the top four yet, but I also haven’t qualified on pole yet, which I would like.
“But no, I mean it’s been pretty good, I think I’m feeling confident and comfortable in myself, and I think I’m doing a good job at always maximising what we’ve got and always putting a good lap on the table.
“So yeah, I think Rodin are doing a good job as well. I think whether I do an amazing lap or a lap that’s not great, it’s still always been in the top five, which is a nice place to be. You know that you have that little bit of buffer that if you do make a small mistake, then it’s still not going to be the end of the world.
“So yeah, I think the team and I in that respect are doing a really good job.”
A qualifying lap around Silverstone
On the feeling of doing a qualifying lap around the iconic British circuit, Dunne explained the thrill of the middle sector.
Alongside that, he also touched on the trickiness of the tyres and the role the engineers and driver play in that.
“Yeah, it felt pretty good.
“I think a quali lap in general around here on softs is probably one of the most enjoyable ones of the year.
“Copse, Maggots/Becketts and Stowe, that whole section in general is just super fun as a driver. And it’s one that I really enjoy.
“And then I think heading into the race, I think managing deg is always tricky because the car needs to be performing well in high speed. But then you also need good traction for corners like Turn 4, 7, 17.
“So yeah, I think definitely this track is not easy for the engineer’s job on that side of things.
“And as a driver, there’s a lot of things you need to manage as well. So I imagine it to not be the easiest race in the world, and there’s quite a few things we need to look after, but we’ll prepare for the best we can.”
Jumping from hard to soft
In practice at Silverstone, the drivers pound around on the hard tyre as the hard and soft compound were brought to Silverstone. It’s a big step in performance with multiple seconds differences in qualifying and the race.
Asked by Pit Debrief about adjusting to the grip change, Alex Dunne explained how it is becoming more normal as they already did it in Barcelona, as well as experience last year.
“I think the grip level jump is quite big. I think we were nearly two and a half seconds quicker roughly than what we did in FP, which is quite a big jump.
“But at the same time, we were all well used to it now. We had the same thing in Barcelona. I had the same thing a couple of times last year as well. So it is quite a big jump.
“But at the end of the day, once you get in the car, you just drive to the grip level that you’ve got. And we’re all well used to that now.
“So I think it doesn’t really change too much.”
Ahead of championship contenders but taking nothing for granted
In qualifying on Friday, Câmara and Dunne locked out the front row as Tsolov (P5) and Minì (P10) had tougher sessions. However, the Bulgarian and Italian finished 1-2 in the Sprint, further extending their gap at the top of the standings.
While the Irishman was satisfied to be ahead of the top 2 in points, Alex Dunne is fully aware that he needs to convert that into a big result in the 2026 F2 British GP Feature Race.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s nice, but I think the race is a different story.
“In Austria, I also outqualified all of the championship contenders, let’s say, and in the end I degged off the planet at the end of the race.
“I think it’s good to be there at the front, it’s good to be ahead of the majority of the championship contenders. But in the end, you still need to do the job in the race and you still need to have the pace to stay there as well.
“So I think we put ourselves in a good position, but we still need to manage it well on Sunday.”
Alex Dunne on a deep dive with Rodin Motorsport to solve Austria difficulties ahead of 2026 F2 British GP
In Melbourne, Miami and Montréal, Rodin Motorsport, Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne had outstanding pace in both qualifying and the race. They finished 1-2 in the Feature Race in Canada to finally get big points on the board.
While the Alpine Junior has carried the qualifying pace into Europe, the race pace has dropped off.
Degradation and a lack of pace was exposed in the Barcelona-Catalunya Feature Race, but it went to another level in Austria. Holding the net lead at one stage, Dunne fell off the dreaded tyre cliff once Nikola Tsolov passed him.
The driver of car #15 was in huge trouble by the end, falling to 6th. Had there been a few more laps, it is likely no points would have been scored.
Asked by Pit Debrief about the work done to try and resolve the balance and tyre management issues he has faced with his Rodin Motorsport machinery, Alex Dunne says they have areas to work on and improve things before and after the 2026 F2 British GP event.
“Yeah, we looked into it quite a bit.
“Austria was definitely an unexpected one. I think that generally, the race pace over the whole weekend was really, really difficult.
“I think I got the most out of it in the way that I could. And still with that, I don’t think I’ve ever degged that hard in a race ever.
“So it was definitely very, very difficult. Not something that we’re used to because it’s never happened to us before.”
Race pace had been strong
“I think generally, our race pace is one of our stronger points, but in the last couple of weekends […] it’s been alright, but I think Austria in particular, it wasn’t fantastic.
“We’ve looked into it. I think we’ve spotted a few key areas that we need to work on as a team to get more out of it and to do a better job with that.
“If we can have that fixed for this weekend, that would be nice.”
