Photo: McLaren
FIA Formula 3 racers Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne have been announced by McLaren as joining its driver development programme.
The Formula 1, Formula E and IndyCar team now supports five drivers in junior single-seaters, and going forward the MDDP is being led by Stephanie Carlin who was previously deputy team principal of Carlin and team principal of X44 and is now McLaren’s Formula 1 business operations director.
Dunne and Stenshorne are both F3 rookies, and racing for rival teams. MP Motorsport driver Dunne was British Formula 4 champion and Italian F4 runner-up in 2022, then last year was GB3 runner-up and made the podium on his F3 debut at the Macau Grand Prix. He sits 17th in the standings after two rounds of the 2024 FIA F3 Championship.
“It’s an honour to join the MDDP and I’m looking forward to getting started with the team,” said the 18-year-old Irishman.
“McLaren provides the perfect environment for me to develop my skillset as I continue my journey in motorsport. I’m grateful for Zak [Brown, CEO] and Stephanie’s support and I’m excited to meet the rest of the team at the McLaren Technology Centre.”
Stenshorne is a protege of Nicolas Todt through his All Road Management stable, and only picked up three podiums across 48 races in four different F4 championships as a car racing rookie in 2022.
The highly rated Norwegian proved his potential when he stepped up to Formula Regional last year though, coming second in the European championship and making the podium four times from his nine races in the Middle East championship.
He is driving for Hitech GP in his rookie F3 campaign, and is four positions above Dunne in the standings having won the sprint race in Melbourne.
“I’m incredibly excited to join the MDDP, it’s an honour to now be part of the McLaren family,” the 18-year-old said.
“The team has a great history of developing talent, so I’m looking forward to growing with the team and learning from their expertise as I continue on my journey towards the top of motorsport. Thank you to Zak, Stephanie and the entire team for their faith in me, I can’t wait to get started.”
Carlin said Dunne and Stenshorne “are both exciting and promising young talents within motorsport, with proven records on track in their respective junior categories including this season’s FIA F3 Championship” and that McLaren “will be working closely to support their development within our talent pipeline”.
Reigning FIA F3 champion and Formula 2 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, FRegional racer Ugo Ugochukwu and F1 Academy competitor Bianca Bustamante are McLaren’s other juniors on the rungs below F1.