{"id":65525,"date":"2025-10-08T12:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65525\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T12:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:53:12","slug":"f1-news-red-bull-confirms-interest-in-alex-dunne-after-mclaren-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65525\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Red Bull confirms interest in Alex Dunne after McLaren split"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/XPB_1373924_HiRes.jpg\" alt=\"Red Bull confirms interest in former McLaren junior\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRed Bull have shown interest in recently released McLaren driver Alex Dunne. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull\u2019s motorsport advisor said Dunne\u2019s availability had caught his attention, describing the 19-year-old as a natural fit for the Red Bull system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlex Dunne is a very fast, aggressive young driver,\u201d Marko told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a good fit for Red Bull. Now that he\u2019s available, he\u2019s someone we\u2019ll definitely be talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marko added that while Dunne still has areas to improve, his raw pace and attacking style are what Red Bull typically seeks in its juniors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s very aggressive, fast and has good car control,\u201d Marko said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s making lots of mistakes as well, at the moment. But he\u2019s very like a Red Bull driver.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dunne\u2019s future became the subject of speculation after <a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/f1-news-2025-mclaren-splits-alex-dunne-junior-driver-red-bull-rumours-career-update\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">McLaren announced on Thursday that he had left its driver development programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The team said it had been \u201ca pleasure to work with Alex\u201d and wished him well for the future.<\/p>\n<p>The Irishman joined McLaren in 2024 and has impressed in his rookie Formula 2 campaign with Rodin Motorsport, taking feature race victories in Bahrain and Imola.<\/p>\n<p>He also made history earlier this year when he became the first Irish driver in 22 years to take part in a Formula 1 weekend, driving in free practice at the Austrian and Italian Grands Prix.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement on social media, Dunne confirmed the split was mutual and thanked McLaren for its support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom today I\u2019ve mutually decided to part ways with the McLaren driver development programme,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have my first opportunity to drive an F1 car followed by two FP1 sessions is something I\u2019ll always hold very close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McLaren\u2019s current line-up of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is locked in until at least the end of 2026, limiting Dunne\u2019s prospects of an F1 graduation with the team.<\/p>\n<p>His departure follows a similar path to Gabriel Bortoleto, who left McLaren last year to pursue an opportunity elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>If Dunne joins Red Bull\u2019s junior ranks, he is expected to remain in F2 next season, with the potential for a future step up to Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>That team\u2019s 2026 line-up remains uncertain, with Isack Hadjar expected to replace Yuki Tsunoda at the senior Red Bull team, leaving both Tsunoda and Liam Lawson\u2019s future unresolved. Arvid Lindblad is also expected to move into F1 with the Faenza-based squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull have shown interest in recently released McLaren driver Alex Dunne. Image: XPB Images Speaking at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48076,4262,111,139,69,12362,213],"class_list":["post-65525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-dunne","tag-mclaren","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-red-bull","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}