Heading into the final round of the 2025 F2 season at the Abu Dhabi GP, Alex Dunne is P5 in the Drivers’ Championship. The Irishman has an outside shot at P2 still.
Following a season with good pace in F3 that did not quite translate into big results consistently for various reasons, the 20-year-old has made a name for himself in Formula 2 this year.
From P14 in F3, he is set for a top 5 finish in the F2 championship this year barring a sensational weekend for 2026 Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad. The former McLaren junior is 21 points adrift of Richard Verschoor in P2 and Jak Crawford in P3. Luke Browning is also ahead of him.
Alex Dunne says normal service resumed in 2025 F2 season
Speaking to Pit Debrief and other media outlets ahead of the finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend, the driver from County Offaly was asked about how important it felt to be so strong after a relatively difficult year in F3.
The 2025 F2 campaign has seen Alex Dunne running back at the front with Rodin Motorsport where he has been for most of his single-seater career. A dominant British F4 champion in 2022, he also finished runner-up in the Italian F4 and GB3 championships in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“I mean for me it’s kind of just back to normal.
“I would say each season is important; I wouldn’t necessarily say that this season was more important than others. But, I think for me this year has kind of just gone back to how I feel I normally am. So, of course it was nice.
“I think that we had some strong moments. Some moments where we maybe could have been a little bit better as well. But overall I’m pretty happy.
“Definitely I think I would like to be higher. But still, we have the opportunity to fight for a top three this weekend so that’s the goal.”
Having a fast car key to success
While Formula 2 is as close to a spec series as you can get, certain teams tend to hold a small but decisive advantage thanks to having the best of the best regarding engineers, mechanics etc.
Rodin Motorsport (previously Carlin Racing) have been one of the strongest teams in F2. Current F1 drivers Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson have all finished in the top 3 in the championship with them. Zane Maloney was 4th last year.
Dunne says 85% of the reason someone can be rapid is because of the car they have given. The rest is up to the driver to maximise.
“I think I would say probably the biggest thing is having a team around you that can give you a car that’s quick enough to do that.
“And, I think 85% of the thing that makes it possible to be quick is having the car underneath you that allows you to do so.
“Of course, you need to be able to work with a team and develop it as much as you can. But I think Rodin have been a proven team in the past and have been very, very strong with numerous other drivers.
“So, I think being in a position with a car underneath me that’s capable of delivering strong results is the majority of the battle, to be honest.”
Spa the highlight of 2025 F2 season, says Alex Dunne
Asked by Pit Debrief about his progress over the last year and what areas he feels he has improved the most, the Irish driver stated it’s been a case of marginal gains everywhere.
As for his season highlight, he picked Spa. Despite winning the Bahrain and Imola feature races earlier in the year, his performance at the iconic Belgian track was sensational.
In a dry qualifying session, he was on pole by a whopping 0.4s. Before getting a 10-second penalty for not engaging the start set-up procedure at the start of the formation lap — not a performance advantage — that saw him lose the win, Dunne produced a masterclass in controlling the feature race in terrible conditions.
“I think I wouldn’t say there’s anything in particular. I think naturally, I’m not going to say, ‘oh, you know, I’m amazing at everything.’
“But I think at most things, I feel pretty confident in what I’m capable of. And naturally, I think I’ve just improved in all areas through the year.
“And I would say highlight of my year is probably Spa. I think although the weekend wasn’t quite how I wanted it to be in terms of end result with the penalty, it’s very, very rare nowadays in Formula 2 to dominate a weekend in such fashion, especially with how high the level is and how good the drivers are on the grid.
“So I think for me to have done that was a real statement to myself, let’s say. I was very, very proud of that weekend.”
Why a championship challenge slipped away for Alex Dunne in the F2 2025 season
Leading the championship on a couple of occasions earlier in the season, a challenge for the title from Dunne and Rodin faded away as it went on. Mistakes from team and driver have not helped.
But, as the Irish driver points out, he was also taken out of strong positions by Lindblad and Fornaroli in Monza and Baku.
Nonetheless, 2 wins and 8 podiums overall is a fine effort in his rookie season in Formula 2. He is 61 points adrift of champion Fornaroli heading into this weekend.
“I think ultimately the majority of the things that have stopped it from happening has been from issues caused by other people rather than ourselves. I think Monza, Baku, Spa, things like that. Realistically there’s not really a whole lot we could have done.
“I think of course there are one or two weekends where maybe we could have done a better job to get more points, but that’s the same for every driver on the grid for sure. No driver has had 14 perfect weekends.
“So I think where we’ve gone wrong, other drivers either went wrong before that or after that, and I think that’s just a normal part of racing.
“I’m not going to put it down to luck because I think you create your own luck, but there have been situations where things have happened that are out of our hands that unfortunately have stopped us fighting for the title.”
