Alex Dunne and Franco Colapinto on track at Zandvoort

The Zandvoort track was occupied this Wednesday. Although the Dutch Grand Prix will not take place until August 31, two teams took advantage of this one-week break before the next Grand Prix to test their young drivers: McLaren and Alpine. The British team decided to give the wheel to Alex Dunne, currently an F2 driver at Rodin Motorsport. The Enstone team, on the other hand, chose Franco Colapinto, who is freshly back in F1 replacing Jack Doohan. A logical choice given the status of these two drivers within their respective teams.

The Argentine has just returned to the grid. Although this test takes place within the framework of the TPC (Test Of Previous Cars), it will give the former Williams driver the opportunity to regain his driving sensations directly on the track and not in a simulator. Even if he won’t be able to drive the A525, as these TPCs only allow driving cars that are at least two years old, the former F2 driver with MP Motorsport will be able to complete laps and prepare as best as possible for his F1 return in Imola.

A well-deserved opportunity for Dunne, which he negotiated perfectly.

For the Irishman, the trend is somewhat different. Starting in F2, he has a very convincing start to the season with a victory in the feature race in Bahrain, putting him in fourth place in the championship. With this victory, Dunne became the first driver from the Republic of Ireland to win at such a level in motorsports since Derek Daly’s 1979 F2 season, highlighting the achievement by the native of County Offaly. These performances caught the eye of McLaren, which included him in its junior program last year and decided, as part of these tests, to organize a private testing session with a car dating back at least two seasons.

At the wheel of the 2023 MCL60, the Irish driver completed a clean session without making any mistakes. Unfortunately, several mechanical problems prevented him from executing the entire program organized by the team. A gearbox issue in the morning and an engine problem in the afternoon just as he was about to fit the soft tires for fast laps. Nonetheless, he managed to complete 90 laps and even impressed his leaders, particularly during his stint on hard tires where he proved to be especially effective.

The Irishman will have the chance to get back into an F1 car since McLaren is likely to give him a seat in FP1 during several sessions this year (even though the Woking team has already planned to give one of its two drivers the seat in Mexico for Patricio O’Ward, a Mexican IndyCar driver) as he is currently McLaren’s main junior driver. However, even though the performances are meeting expectations for now, the Irish driver knows that his goal of securing a seat in F1 is difficult to achieve, as McLaren has extended its two drivers for several more years.

A good preparation for Colapinto before a return to Imola

Conversely, Colapinto returns to Formula 1. The Argentinian, who participated in the end of last season with Williams after replacing Logan Sargeant starting from the Italian Grand Prix, becomes the new driver for Alpine. The French team has decided to demote Jack Doohan, who thus becomes the reserve driver for the brand and leaves his place to the Argentinian driver. To get back in shape, Colapinto also completed several laps at Zandvoort in the A523. According to the initial data collected, the Argentinian achieved average lap times of 1 minute 12, which is 3 seconds slower than the pole position set by Norris last year under much more favorable conditions.

Even if these lap times are anecdotal, they nonetheless allow us to highlight that Franco Colapinto is already in the rhythm. This is promising for Alpine, who now hopes to have two drivers capable of scoring points while the team is currently in 9th place in the constructors’ standings, just one point ahead of the last team, Sauber.