Alex Dunne sets himself some realistic goals ahead of the Monaco FIA Formula 2 this weekend around the street circuit. The Irishman achieved a P3 in Qualifying that was split into two sessions, something unique to this historic race.
2026 is vastly different to the 2025 season. Dunne currently sits seventh in the Formula 2 standings, compared to this time last year when he was leading the championship, but understands the difficult nature of this circuit through Qualifying and race runs.
“It was tricky. I think I wasn’t quite as comfortable with the balance as I was in Free Practice. I don’t know if the track conditions had changed or what was different.
“But I think in general, just the feeling in the amount of grip I had wasn’t as good as what I had yesterday. I think it was a bit of a messy session. I had a mistake and then as I was getting ready to push again, there was a red flag in Turn 1.
“It was a bit messy, the final push lap would have been a decent one until the last corner when I hit the wall. But I’m sure, I think all of us if we look through the day, we can all find two tenths pretty easily. So, overall I think to be P3 is not too bad.”
He equalled his Qualifying result at the start of the 2026 season at Melbourne and managed to turn this result into a podium in the Sprint Race but ended in retirement for the Feature Race on Sunday.
But Monaco is no ordinary circuit, notorious for being extremely difficult to overtake with newer modern and wider chassis’. Dunne only managed to finish one place ahead of his starting position in the Sprint Race last year.
Where mistakes are common and tyre degradation may not be a major issue, what can he hope for?
“I think if I can stay P8, I would be happy in general.
“It’s going to be very hard to move forward great. I think P8 is just on the cusp of being in the points for the Sprint Race so if I can bring home one or two points, it would be nice. So it’s always going to be tricky to pass.
“Actually I would say the degradation at this track is a lot higher than you would think but it’s just you never really notice it because no one can make use of it because it’s too difficult to pass.
“I think in previous years, a lot of drivers have kind of done like push-pull-push like you would do in Free Practice, just trying to go for the fastest lap. I imagine a lot of people will go in that direction.”
Formula 2 continues this weekend in Monaco with the Sprint Race at 14:15 local time on Saturday the 6th of June and the Feature Race at 9:25 local time on Sunday the 7th of June.
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