Alex Dunne reflected on the first half of the 2026 F2 season, where he has reached an impressive level of consistency but has yet to reach the top spot in the championship.
In 2025, Dunne was a frequently discussed driver, as a member of the McLaren driver academy and in contention for the title throughout the season; he was consistently praised for his pace.
However, as his campaign went on, more mistakes came out. It started with his Turn 1 incident in Monaco, where his eagerness to get ahead led to a major crash and a pile-up.
These inconsistencies plagued the back end of the Irishman’s year and dropped him from the championship lead to fifth in the standings.
Heading into a second year in the series, he continued with Rodin Motorsport, but with the support of Alpine rather than McLaren.
While he sits fourth in the championship after the first half of the season, he’s become a far more well-rounded driver and has managed to eliminate much of the inconsistency he faced last year.
A consistent 2026
He spoke to Formula 2 about this year so far, explaining that it has ‘not been too bad’.
“In general, it’s not been too bad.” He said. “I think we’ve been relatively consistent. I think qualifying has been a major strong point, being in the top three every weekend since Miami, which of course is really nice.
“Being consistent in quali is really important. I think that’s definitely something I’m happy about. Then in terms of races, I think pace we need to improve a little bit, but we’re getting there.”
Dunne was open about how there were many areas he wanted to work on from his rookie campaign, and he believed that together with Rodin he’s taken important strides this year.
“I learned a lot from quali last year; there were also a few areas as a rookie I needed to improve on, which I think I’ve done a good job focusing on this year.
“The team also do a very good job with the car as well. The car is always in the window of where we want it to be, which, of course, makes it a lot easier as a driver.
“Whether we have the pace to win or the pace to finish fifth, whatever it is, I think we just always need to try and finish as high as we possibly can.”
F2 and its unpredictability
In a series as chaotic as F2, winning isn’t everything. Many drivers have won titles not by collecting the most wins but rather by consistently being in the points and stepping on the podium.
Hungary was the first weekend all season that Dunne walked away without points, the Irishman otherwise picking up five podiums.
Dunne admitted last season that he was working on not always making the risky moves for the lead. That sometimes second place was better than crashing out in a move for the top step of the podium.
He reiterated that to F2, He said: “If the start of a race hasn’t gone to plan or if something happens in the middle, I think you just need to reset and maximise what’s possible on the day.
“That’s what we’ve tried to focus on to make sure we get the most points out of every weekend. Race pace is probably the main area of focus, let’s say. The last few rounds we’ve made a step forward, and I think Spa was definitely a step in the right direction.
“So I’m pretty confident that we’ll be challenging and back to normal pace for wins and things like that pretty soon. Definitely a couple of things that we found that seem to be working consistently. If what we’ve figured out is true, then I think we should be back to normal.”
Five rounds to go
There are still five rounds remaining in the F2 championship and more than enough races for the order to change dramatically as it so often does in F2.
Dunne told F2 that he wasn’t focused on the standings but rather his performance each round. He spoke about his desire to ‘maximise’ the performance as Rodin hopes to be back in winning form.
“I just want to try and maximise myself every weekend and get the most out of what we’ve got. And where we end up is where we end up. I’m not really too focused on that at the moment, to be honest.
“Monza’s always an enjoyable one, a track I like and it’s always fairly exciting, qualifying and a bit of chaos as well, which is always good for the fans. And then Madrid, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Madrid is a brand new track for all series, with F3 just completing their in-season test at the hybrid street and permanent circuit. It brings with it anticipation and mystery that Dunne was excited for.
“From what I’ve seen, the track looks pretty cool. It looks very high speed, and it’s a street circuit as well. So I think the fact that it’s also going to be a new track for the whole group will make it very exciting.”
READ MORE:
Discussion about this post