Anyone who has been following the feeder series scene over the past two seasons will undoubtedly have heard the name Alex Dunne. A rising star in the junior series, He has been making headlines and opening eyes all over with his performances, talent and results. At 18 years old, his career is on the up. So why is this talented teen not going to be on the F3 grid for 2024?
Who is Alex Dunne?
Alex after one of his many British f4 victories 📷 Alex Dunne
18 years old and hailing from County Offaly in Ireland, Alex began his karting career locally, taking numerous titles across the Irish karting scene before setting his sights across the water to compete in the Super 1 National championship in 2015. 2018 would see him first race in Europe, Winning the WSK champions cup in 2019.
2021 would see him take the step up to single seaters racing in Spanish F4 with Pinnacle Motorsport. A pole position and podium on debut was the perfect start but after just three rounds, Dunne and his team parted ways, ending with a p16 finish in the championship despite clear promise. Alex would then move onto ADAC F4 with US Racing starting at the third race of the season where he would pick up two pole positions and podiums on his way to finishing 8th in the standings.
2022 was the year Alex really started to catch people's eyes. Starting the year by entering the F4 UAE championship with Hitech GP, His first ever win in single seaters would come during round 3 at the Dubai Autodrome, his second coming in the final round leaving him 6th in the standings. Where success would really start flying though was during his British and Italian F4 campaigns.
Racing simultaneously in two extremely competitive and talent packed series at once was a huge ask but Alex rose to the challenge. He raced Italian rising star Kimi Antonelli all the way to the end in Italian F4, just falling short and settling for second in the championship, taking 11 podiums on his way to vice champion. His British F4 campaign would allow him to take one step higher on the podium. Twelve wins along with missing the final race weekend of the season to race in Italian f4 was still enough for Alex to be crowned British F4 champion in 2022, a season many praised highly. A season that really put the name Alex Dunne on the map.
2023 would continue to be a success for Alex with an impressive GB3 campaign where he’d finish runner up led onto his first ever taste of F3 machinery in a test in Imola mere 24 hours after his GB3 campaign ended. Alex shocked everyone, topping the timings at the end of the final day in a rain soaked session putting his car impressively a second faster then the entire grid. This impressive display would give Alex the opportunity to showcase his talent on one of the biggest stages of all when it comes to feeder series racing, The Macau Grand Prix. The World cup of F3.
Alex and teammate Luke Browning on the podium in Macau 📷 Alex Dunne
Finally making his F3 debut, Alex would go on to be one of the names on everyone's lips who followed the Macau race. He would put his car p5 and p6 in qualifying, out qualifying some huge names and talents. A stand out performance for a lot of people considering it was his first ever time racing a F3 car. Success would follow in the qualifying race where he would gain 4 places from p6 on the grid to finish an incredibly impressive P2, giving Hitech a 1-2 in the race and on the grid for the main event with Luke Browning getting the win. This is where Alex’s fairytale weekend would end as an unfortunate accident leaving him in the wall and out of the main race. A sad end to what was an incredible weekend but Alex had shown the world just how good he was and proved he was ready for the step up.
The F3 dream halted
After an incredible end to the 2023 season, many expected Dunne to be announced by Hitech GP for the 2024 FIA F3 season. When the announcement of their final seat was released and it wasn’t Alex, many people made their feelings known that the British team were letting a real star fall through the ranks. The replies and quotes section of their announcement on X and comments section of Instagram was filled with people asking the question “where’s Alex Dunne?”. Many asking how a team could have such a talent in their hands and not wish to utilize it.
With still some seats yet to be filled for the 2024 season, all hope might not be lost for Alex if you look on the bright side but his best chance of securing a seat has been snapped away. Hitech being a team he's worked with for numerous seasons now choosing to put someone else in the seat was sure to be a huge blow for the young irishman who until now, has no plans for the 2024 season.
Why lack of funding is leading to special talents falling through the cracks
So why did Hitech seemingly overlook Alex for the final seat ? Where no official reason has been given, only one reason comes to mind. Funding. In an interview with RTE published just after the Macau GP, Alex spoke of still trying to secure funding. “We're always trying to find the budget. So we're working until as late as possible until a few weeks before the race to decide what we're doing”.
With potential struggles with trying to find the financial backing and the teams potentially not being in a place to subsidize any difference, It could account to one of the reasons we may not be seeing Alex showcase his talent on the F3 stage next season. A definite shame because he has proven to be worthy of the seat and to also be competitive so one can hope a sponsor sees that talent and takes him under their wing.
Alex is not the only driver to have this issue and most definitely won’t be the last. Lack of funding is a challenge many young drivers face throughout their career. With a season in karting, the very first step in a young driver's career costing roughly £10,000 or more, the sport is one of the most expensive out there. With that figure rising and rising the further a driver progresses through their career, sponsors and financial backing becomes a need to give the driver the best opportunity of success.
Sadly, that backing isn’t easy to find and even if a driver is lucky enough to gain access to funding, it can often be taken away mid season leading to the driver having to stop their competitive season. A scenario of this being young British driver Abbi pulling having to cut her 2021 British F4 season short for this exact reason. An issue no driver can control but can cause huge effects to their career and one that needs fixing sooner rather than later.
Without any changes to funding issues these drivers are facing, we will see more talents such as Alex be potentially forgotten about, their talents not utilized and shown to the world. Making motorsport more accessible to drivers and their families should be key and I hope these superstars get their day to showcase why money should not hold them back.
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