The astonishing 43-year-old statistic Alex Dunne ended at Austrian GP

Alex Dunne drove for McLaren in first practice in Austria this weekend, ending a 43-year stint with no drivers from the Republic of Ireland.

McLaren gave Lando Norris’ MCL39 to Formula 2 championship leader Alex Dunne for first practice at the Red Bull Ring, following on from his recent Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) outings at Zandvoort and the Circuit of the Americas.

Alex Dunne ends a long-standing record with Austria showing

Dunne’s appearance on track behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car this weekend brought to an end an unbroken 43 years in which there has not been a driver hailing from the Republic of Ireland.

While Ireland has been represented well by Eddie Jordan’s eponymous team through the 1990s, the Republic has made little impact on Formula 1 overall over the decades.

Born and raised in County Offaly in Ireland’s Midlands, Dunne became the first driver from the Republic to take to an F1 track during a Grand Prix weekend since Derek Daly and Tommy Byrne participated in the 1982 Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas.

Dunne’s successes in the junior categories suggest that, should he make it into F1, it won’t take much for him to become the most successful driver from the country.

Certainly, his performance in the free practice session attracted attention as, after a slow start, Dunne steadily lowered his best time to a stellar 1:05.766 to finish just two-tenths off the top time.

Finishing P4, Dunne was within a tenth of the best time of his experienced teammate Oscar Piastri.

What about Eddie Irvine and Ralph Firman?

While Daly and Byrne are the last drivers from the Republic to have driven in Formula 1, two drivers have appeared under the Irish tricolour flag in the years since.

In the late 1990s, Eddie Irvine’s family was bombarded with phone calls following the FIA’s display of the Irish flag over his head after he finished second at the Argentine Grand Prix.

The Union Jack, the national flag of the UK, was raised over his head at Imola as he finished on the podium at the next race, before the Irish flag was shown again at Monaco.

Irvine, who hails from Newtownards in Northern Ireland, appealed to the FIA to be allowed special dispensation to use a neutral flag, with the governing body later confirming a mistake had been made and, due to Irvine holding a British passport, the Union Jack was the correct one for him to race under.

This was despite Irvine racing under an Irish licence, issued through Dublin’s Irish Automobile Club. From mid-1997, Irvine appeared under the Union Jack, with God Save The Queen as his national anthem for his race victories.

Following Irvine’s departure from F1 after 2002, Ireland didn’t have to wait long for another ‘local’ hero as Eddie Jordan hired Ralph Firman as a driver for his team in 2003.

Firman has an Irish mother and raced under an Irish licence. He holds dual nationality and, while his licence was Irish-issued, he was born and raised in Norfolk in the UK.

How many other Irish drivers have raced in F1?

Surprisingly, Innes Ireland, despite his name, doesn’t make this list; if one can even describe the following as a ‘list’.

In 1982, the highly-rated Tommy Byrne took part in five Grand Prix weekends, starting two races after making it through and qualifying for the grid.

Racing for Theodore, he qualified 26th and retired from the Austrian Grand Prix, and managed 27th on the grid for Caesar’s Palace, a race he also retired from.

That day at Caesar’s Palace was also Derek Daly’s last race in the F1 championship. As the most successful driver from the Republic, his best finishes in F1 were two second-place finishes in Buenos Aires and Silverstone while driving for Tyrrell in 1980.

David Kennedy had a short-lived F1 career in 1980, where he attempted to qualify for seven Grands Prix while driving for Shadow. Unfortunately, he never made the grid in F1, but did go on to win in class on multiple occasions at the Le Mans 24 Hours over the next decade.

Finally, gentleman racer Joe Kelly took part in the British Grand Prix in a privately-entered Alta in 1950 and ’51, retiring on both occasions.

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