Sebastián Montoya and Alex Dunne both enjoyed fruitful debut Formula 2 weekends in Australia, with Montoya taking sixth place in the sprint race and Dunne finishing fifth-fastest in qualifying. Ahead of the second weekend of the season in Bahrain, the pair of F3 graduates told Feeder Series about their positive F2 experiences so far. 

By Martin Lloyd

Both Montoya and Dunne endured difficult Formula 3 campaigns in 2024. Though they showed pace on several occasions and scored three podiums between them, neither found consistent form or fully delivered on their potential. 

While at Campos in 2024, Montoya’s main issue was qualifying performance. He made a habit of roaring through the field from low grid positions, including rising from 29th to sixth in the Melbourne feature race, but failed to score points on a consistent basis.

For his step up to F2 this year, he has reunited with Prema, with whom he raced in Italian F4, ADAC F4 and FRegional Europe from 2020 to 2022. He took his most recent single-seater victory in FR Asia in 2022 with Prema satellite Mumbai Falcons, whose livery he bears this weekend. 

“I’ve enjoyed [the step up] quite a lot,” Montoya told Feeder Series at a virtual media roundtable on Thursday afternoon. “It’s quite nice because it’s the first time where you can actually go on the power and get wheelspin quite significantly.

“The car is a lot bigger. It’s a lot more physical. I was surprised how different it was, and there’s a lot of aspects such as tyre management that are quite different to the F3 that I had to learn again. But I’ve really enjoyed it.”

The Colombian-American also emphasised how off-track changes had helped him improve over the winter. He explained that for the first time, he was working with a dedicated trainer, Roger Morales Hernández. 

Dunne, who finished 14th in F3 last year with MP Motorsport, also impressed in Australia. The McLaren junior qualified fifth despite an early crash in practice but started the sprint race in 16th. He was one of six drivers hit with 10-place grid penalties for both Melbourne races after three teams fitted illegal sensors to their cars in pre-season testing.

Nevertheless, the 19-year-old fought back to ninth place, only one place away from a points-paying position. He was also due to start 15th for the feature race, which was cancelled because of extreme wet weather.

“This is arguably the first time in my career where I’ve driven a car and gone, ‘Oh, this is pretty quick,’” Dunne told Feeder Series. “I think that first push lap in Abu Dhabi, you could feel the speed of the car and it’s definitely a pretty big jump from F3.”

Dunne, who was confirmed as a Rodin driver for 2025 in early February, first drove the F2 car at the post-season Abu Dhabi test in mid-December. He was excluded from the final day of the Bahrain in-season test as part of Rodin’s punishment for their illegal sensor fittings. These factors put him among the drivers with the least track time in the Dallara F2 2024.

Dunne said at the roundtable that the team ‘maximised the two days’ and that he didn’t feel that he ‘missed out on a whole lot’. His current focus, he said, is on making minor adjustments to fine-tune his efforts as the season ramps up with a double-header in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

“I think naturally there’s some little things to learn in terms of driving style and how you adapt to the car, whether it’s qualifying runs or race runs, but I think it hasn’t been anything too big or too crazy,” Dunne added. 

“I don’t think I’ve had to flip anything on its head. It’s all come pretty naturally. I think that’s with the help of the team as well. The team really does a good job at helping the driver work on themselves and perform better.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency