Why is Alex Dunne leaving resurgent McLaren? What you missed at the Singapore GP

After the surprise stumble in Azerbaijan, McLaren got over the line at the second time of asking to win the constructors’ championship in Singapore. But that wasn’t the only talking point to come out of the paddock during the race weekend at Marina Bay.

McLaren seals the first deal

If you rewind two years, the Formula 1 world was collectively scratching its head at how Red Bull had finally been beaten for the first time all season, as Singapore provided the one time it failed to win a race.

Amid such dominance, you would have been called crazy to predict back-to-back constructors’ championships would follow for McLaren. It’s a remarkable turnaround, but as someone with significant knowledge of the team from his time as one of its drivers between 1996 and 2004, David Coulthard believes it should be viewed as the reawakening of a giant.

“What is more surprising in many ways is how far they’ve dropped, not how far they’ve come,” Coulthard said. “Because if you look at the DNA of McLaren, they’ve been winning since they were created, and obviously the period I was there came off the back of a great period of success.

“They went into a bit of a doldrums, which if you look at whenever McLaren have had those doldrums, it’s tended to follow whenever they’ve got involved in another business, so the downturn was when they launched the F1, that’s become one of the most iconic cars, and then latterly when they got into SLRs and stuff like that, but anyway, put that cycle away, what does that tell us? It’s about focus, isn’t it? And it’s about people.

“If the name above the door guaranteed success, these guys in red would win everything, because they’re the most famous name in Ferrari.

“So what I think Zak [Brown] has to be given credit for is the restructuring, a lot of good people there that may have been in other places before, but you bring a wealth of knowledge and they’ve got a proven track record, and the results have followed.”

Not that McLaren’s success could be the only focal point surrounding the team on Sunday, as a close moment between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hinted at growing tensions that Coulthard is hoping to see turn into a full-on fight.

“And they have two great young drivers. They’re going through the inevitable pains of trying to manage them. Ultimately, if you tame a racing driver, you take away the lap time, so the moments that we all remember in the history of the great battles between team-mates – great if it’s a rivalry between teams – are [when they fight].

“I’m looking forward to them winning the constructors’ and then gloves being off for the rest of the season.”

Intrigue around Dunne’s departure

While McLaren was celebrating that championship victory, the weekend had started with a slightly surprising development relating to one of its junior drivers.

Since he first drove in a Formula 1 session at the Austrian Grand Prix, Alex Dunne had appeared to be another McLaren success story. Only added to the team’s driver development programme in 2024, Dunne had already impressed as a rookie in Formula 2, but a strong FP1 outing at the Red Bull Ring really caught the eye.

The intervening months have seen his F2 title challenge stall somewhat, but Dunne is still in the mix, and had been attracting interest from Red Bull. While that was deemed preliminary contact after the summer break, it appears to have been enough to convince the Irishman and his team that a move of programme could be beneficial.

Sources indicate McLaren offered Dunne future opportunities and had attempted to keep him within the set-up, but those were deemed unacceptable from the driver’s side and when it was clear an agreement wouldn’t be reached, McLaren opted to cut all ties immediately rather than continue funding his career.

If Dunne does end up joining Red Bull, it’s likely to see him remain in F2 and target a race seat at Racing Bulls in 2027 – with Arvid Lindblad moving up next year – but if not, then it could prove a costly bridge to burn. It’s the sort of difficult decision junior drivers are often faced with in order to try and be in the right place at the right time to get an opportunity in F1.

Doohan down at Haas

The driver market is relatively quiet this year with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli staying at Mercedes – even if actual contracts have yet to be finalised – and the majority of the movement likely to come around the Red Bull seats, but there are still some interesting switches that could take place.

One of them revolves around Jack Doohan, who is assessing his options, having not been given another chance to prove himself at Alpine after he was ruthlessly dropped after the Miami Grand Prix.

The greater patience with Franco Colapinto – making 10 starts and suffering one DNS compared to Doohan’s six, despite similar results – has suggested to the Australian that his future might be better served elsewhere.

Haas has emerged as a potential destination, with technical partner Toyota providing a link to a Super Formula race seat that could sit alongside a reserve role and TPC running. Doohan’s father – motorcycle legend Mick – was seen in long discussions with Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu in the Singapore paddock.

American focus on the horizon

I’ve mentioned how talks over American broadcast rights have been progressing previously in this column, and there’s a natural time for it to become more of a focal point for the sport.

With the next swing of races taking place in the Americas – and two of the next four in the United States – the intention has been to conclude matters and be able to make an announcement when F1 is more in the limelight in that region.

All of the indications are that Apple will take over from ESPN, and that is likely to mark a shift in F1’s global positioning as it will open doors to other opportunities. The wide range of Apple devices that exist – external to any broadcast offering – could then provide a platform for F1 to reach more people.

It might be part of a US deal, but if the expected confirmation does materialise in the coming weeks, then there could well be a knock-on impact in the UK and other regions, too.