Dunne to drive for McLaren in Austria F1 practice

Alex Dunne leads the Formula 2 championship in his first year in the series

Alex Dunne will become the first Irish driver to participate in a Formula 1 weekend in 22 years at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The 19-year-old will compete in first practice on Friday in place of championship challenger Lando Norris for frontrunners McLaren.

Dunne, who is a development driver for McLaren, has impressed in his first year in Formula 2 and has won two races and leads the championship.

He prepared for his first practice session by getting his first drive in an old Formula 1 car at Zandvoort in May.

It is understood Dunne had a second test at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, to further prepare for his first F1 weekend.

"It's an amazing opportunity to be able to drive during FP1 in Austria. I'm really looking forward to getting laps in behind the wheel of the MCL39 and supporting the team with the set-up for the race weekend ahead," said Dunne.

"I've been preparing well for the sessions, taking part in testing of previous cars tests in the MCL60 and spending time on the simulator, which has been a fantastic learning experience."

Dunne will become the first Irish driver to participate in a grand prix weekend since Ralph Firman in 2003.

England-born Firman raced under an Irish licence for Jordan in 2003.

The last driver born on the island of Ireland to compete in F1 was former Ferrari and Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine, who was from Northern Ireland and raced under a UK licence from 1993 to 2002.

F1 teams have to offer young or rookie drivers four practice sessions in the 24-race season.

It has already been announced that IndyCar star Pato O'Ward will run at his home race in October's Mexico City Grand Prix.

Dunne claimed a first victory of the F2 season for Rodin Motorsport in Bahrain at the second round, and won again at Imola in May.

The Offaly driver also qualified on pole position with a blistering lap in Monaco, but was deemed at fault and handed a grid penalty for a first-corner crash that took him, and several other drivers, out of the race.

However, he put in a superb drive at the following round in Barcelona to go from the penalty-inflicted 19th to second, and reclaimed the championship lead with fifth place in the feature race.

The opening F1 practice session in Austria takes place at 12:30 BST on Friday.

Dunne, a former British F4 champion and GB3 Championship runner-up, will continue his F2 campaign at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on top of his F1 commitments.