MOTORMOUTH’S MUTTERINGS – In the immortal words of Eddie Jordan, “F*ck The Begrudgers!”

We are an odd bunch, the Irish. We have often been labelled as a nation of begrudgers. As a comedian once said “The Irish have a great relationship with the dead. They always talk about the dead. Why is this? It’s because the dead will never achieve anything!”

I thought long and hard about penning this piece. I purposely avoid online debates although, like many others, I do get great entertainment from viewing them from time to time! The reason I decided to write it though was that I was genuinely shocked at the reaction from so many people to Alex Dunne’s recent Monaco shunt.

Alex Dunne, mainly due to what seems to be a very special talent, allied to a lot of hard work from his Dad Noel, has scythed through the Junior formulae to land in F2 with a bang. He has already won two races and incredibly, on the run up to Monaco, was actually leading the Championship. He is supported by McLaren and the first to congratulate and embrace him when he won in Bahrain was McLaren boss Zak Brown. It is fair to say that he is on the cusp of F1. This is not something we have seen from an Irish driver in many many years and, as a motorsport fan, something I find hugely exciting, almost surreal.

When he won his second F2 race (how good does that sound?) he was the talk of the town. RTE, BBC and all of the Irish sports sites ran pieces on him. Even the Sky F1 commentary team begrudgingly admitted he was impressive. On the run to Monaco then, he was leading the championship and, as ever with Alex, he seemed remarkably comfortable with the whole thing. Then, with a whopper late session lap, he stole the most important Pole Position of the year, when he pipped Victor Martins to fastest time, under the noses of all the F1 teams and managers.

In the event, we all know what happened. Or do we? Alex fluffed the start. Not enough to be swamped, but enough to be beaten away by Martins, and to have to defend on the run to St Devote for the first time. Then we had the contact, the damage and the red flag. The internet went crazy. All Dunne’s fault, Dunne again etc. You would think, had you not seen what happened, that Alex steamed into turn one, all locked up and bulldozed the leader into the barriers. Not exactly. If you look at the footage from above, there was a gap and that’s where he aimed. As it closed, they made contact. Was it Alex’s fault? Possibly, but it was certainly debatable and definitely not intentional. Anyway, that’s not the point of this piece. The FIA blamed Alex and came down on him, with 3 points and a ten place penalty at the next race, Barcelona this weekend. So, that’s that. Debates don’t matter.

What I found hard to believe was the reaction of plenty of Irish fans. From self proclaimed F1 Tiktok experts, to Facebook pundits and, even in paddock chats, they seemed to be completely against him all of a sudden. I was commentating at the two day IRX/BRX Rallycross event and I met a few people in the paddock who offered me their considered  opinion. “All he had to do was……” or “Sure that’s the championship gone now!”

Why can’t we be like football fans? They support their teams steadfastly, through good times, and more importantly through bad times. Nobody is perfect, but Alex Dunne is by far the best prospect we have had in recent times. He is highly talented and the way he is going, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that he will get to F1. Let’s support him, tell everyone how good he is and for God’s sake, defend him if anyone criticises him. And Alex, if you are reading this, take inspiration from one of EJ’s many quotes: “F*ck the begrudgers”!