Offaly driver Alex Dunne returns to FIA Formula 2 action this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, following the cancellation of rounds two and three of the series which were due to take place in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
In their place, Miami and indeed Montreal next month will now host rounds of the F1 support class which is one step shy of the world's top circuit racing series, and Dunne arrives in the US looking to kickstart his season after a disrupted beginning to the year.
Dunne, who drove for Rodin Motorsport in F2 last season, also competed in two F1 free practice sessions for McLaren in 2025, his best return being fourth quickest in Austria, which made the F1 paddock sit up and take notice of the now 20-year-old Irish driver.
He has now rejoined Rodin Motorsport for the F2 season but his deal with the McLaren Driver Development Programme came to and end and now Dunne has joined the Alpine F1 team's driver academy.
Having sat behind the wheel of a McLaren last season, the expectation is that Dunne will get similar if not more opportunities at Alpine in 2026 as he dovetails his F2 racing with his commitments with the Flavio Briatore run F1 outfit.
However, speaking to RTÉ Sport, Dunne wouldn’t be drawn on what those opportunities would entail as he spoke ahead of the Miami Grand Prix weekend.
"I'll keep that to myself; we'll have to wait and see," said Dunne.
When pressed, and without going into too many specifics, about whether there would be opportunities to do other forms of F1 driving this year, Dunne’s answer was, "Yeah, I hope so".
For now, Dunne’s full focus is on Formula 2. His 2026 season began in Australia, where a post‑race steward's decision ended his weekend on a sour note as a collision with team-mate Martinius Stenshorne in the Melbourne feature race resulted in Dunne’s retirement, with officials ruling him "predominantly responsible" and issuing a penalty.
Ex-Alpine driver Nikola Tsolov is currently leading the way in F2 after Australia with Dunne now playing catch-up and looking to respond on the streets of Miami.
"We've only had one round so far, so even if we started off with a win, which unfortunately we didn't, I think still it would be hard to say how to plan out the rest of the year," said Dunne.
"I think I’ll just approach it the same way we did last year.
"The pace is clearly there, that's never really been an issue, so I think it's more (about) just making sure we're consistent between the team and myself and stringing the full year together."
With the cancellation of races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, motorsport's world governing body the FIA, has added rounds in Miami and Montreal to the F1 calendar, and it's somewhat of a level playing field in Florida as none of the drivers in F2 have competed on the street circuit.
"Racing in Miami and Canada is going to be pretty cool," Dunne said.
"I've never been there before, and also at least to my knowledge, none of the F2 drivers would have ever raced there before, so I think it should make it pretty interesting, everyone's going to have to learn the tracks, including the teams."
As regards now working with the Alpine F1 driver development programme, Dunne says he is settling in well.
"Yeah, it's going well, I'm enjoying working with the team and everyone that I have met so far has been very welcoming, very nice.
"Hopefully I can get a chance to work a bit closer with the F1 drivers and learn off of them.
"When I had the opportunity to do that in McLaren and learn from Lando (Norris) and Oscar (Piastri) it was very beneficial, so to do the same with Alpine would be nice as well, and I think in general just to have the support of another F1 team going into my second year of F2 is always nice.
"But to win F2 is the goal, and there's a lot of things that have to be in line for that to happen.
"Halfway through last year I thought there was a good possibility of doing it as a rookie, and then unfortunately a few things fell away from us, so the goal is to win F2 in 2026."
Does he think he has to win the F2 championship in his second season to further his F1 aspirations?
"Would I have to win it, no, I don't look at it that way," he replied.
"I don't tell myself I have to win F2. I want to try and win it, and I think I'm capable of doing it, but we'll have to wait and see".
"Of course, still the goal is F1. I'm very aware that realistically all going well, this should be my last year in the feeder series categories, so I know that if I don't necessarily have an F1 seat next year, then I may have to look elsewhere.
"But for now I'm just focused on trying to do the best I can in F2, to try and give myself the best opportunity to be in F1, and if that doesn't happen then we'll have to look at other things, but that's for other people to worry about.
"I'm not really too fussed about it to be honest. I think it's quite common for other drivers in previous years as well, that the second year in F2 is the one where you need to have a strong year.
"My rookie season was already strong, but the second year is when you need to put it all together.
"I also still don't have a super licence (required to race in F1), so that's another thing that comes into play as well, but I don't necessarily look at it as a do or die season.
"I'm just going to go out and do what I normally do and if it all falls into place, then we should have a good opportunity for next year, but I'm not too fussed about it to be honest."
One driver that Dunne admires is Max Verstappen, the multi-year F1 champion, who has voiced frustration with the current setup of Formula 1 and the new cars and rules implemented for 2026.
Verstappen has recently bought into a team in Endurance Sports Car racing and has now also raced in it as the four-time champion contemplates his future in the top echelons of F1 racing.
"Max is always a very honest person, which I think is a great way to be," Dunne said.
"With him what you see is what you get, and I think it's not just him. I think all the drivers are frustrated with it at the moment, he's just the one who's the most open about it.
"To me, F1 is about driving flat out to the limit, and whoever is able to do that the best and get the most out of the car, is ultimately the driver who nine times out of 10 will be on pole and win the race.
"I heard a radio message from (Charles) Leclerc in Suzuka, where he said he carried more speed through the corners, he was earlier on throttle, his minimum speed was better, but he lost all the lap time because he had less battery for the straight.
"That's very counter-intuitive for qualifying, (where) you push to the maximum, and maximise the corners, get on throttle as early as possible, carry as much speed as you can, but then if you lose it on the straight, it goes against what you need to do as a driver.
"In my opinion, drivers are there to race and enjoy it, and I guarantee no F1 driver realistically is there to put on a show and to make things look cool.
"They're all there because they're racing drivers and that's what they love, driving cars flat out."
And as regards Miami and F2?
"I think it'll be cool," he said.
"It'll be interesting to see if there's a bigger field spread. Normally qualifying in F2 is quite close.
"I imagine it'll be a bit less close this time".
