It’s been a big year for Dino Beganovic, who’s embarked on his first full F2 season and enjoyed his first F1 free practice outings with Ferrari. Over the summer break, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member joined the Feeder Series Podcast to discuss his year so far and answer questions from listeners.

By Martin Lloyd

Driving in Formula 1 is the ultimate goal of any junior single-seater racer. But for Dino Beganovic, his first outing on a race weekend quickly became a nightmare.

The Swede was late, breathless and covered in sweat for a Ferrari team meeting before he participated in his first-ever F1 free practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Once he arrived, he had to go straight to work with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at F1’s most successful team.

It was an inauspicious start to one of the biggest days of Beganovic’s motorsport career, a day that he had been working towards since he first joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2020. That was before his single-seater debut in Italian F4, and he spent his first five years moving up the ladder with Prema Racing, winning the FR Europe title in 2022 and challenging for the F3 crown in 2024.

Five years on and now the academy’s most senior member, Beganovic is in his first full F2 season with Hitech. The 21-year-old sits 10th in the standings, having taken two podiums in the first four rounds and five consecutive top-eight finishes more recently. Alongside his F2 campaign, he has also made free practice appearances in the Ferrari SF-25 in Sakhir and Spielberg. 

After the Budapest round of the 2025 F2 season, Beganovic sat down with Feeder Series Podcast host Jim Kimberley and F2 editor Martin Lloyd to talk about his story in racing so far. Inevitably, his recent F1 appearances came up in discussion, including that first outing in Sakhir that didn’t quite begin as planned. 

“When I was doing those outings in Bahrain and Spielberg, I was so much in the moment that I was almost forgetting a bit how big it was,” Beganovic said. “When I’m looking back, watching the pictures, watching the practice again and again and again, it sinks in more, but it’s hard to believe that you are sitting next to Charles in the meeting room and Lewis is just across the table.

“I remember for the first meeting, I was late because it was the first FP1 I was doing. I was giving the debrief from the F2 session to my engineer, and there was [senior driver performance engineer] Jock Clear from Ferrari. And he’s waiting for me to guide me to the F1 paddock, and I’m eating my food because there’s no time to eat – I’m eating, giving my feedback to the [F2] engineer about the car and then we start going.”

It is notoriously difficult to switch between the two series on Fridays because the F1 practice session is sandwiched between F2’s practice and qualifying sessions. Apart from the difficulties in swapping cars, there are also logistical concerns.

Beganovic’s predicament was about to get worse when Ferrari’s academy boss and deputy team principal phoned him. 

“I get a call from Jérôme d’Ambrosio,” Beganovic continues, “and he’s like, ‘Where are you?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m on my way!’ I’m literally running now because I noticed that I’m late and he’s like, ‘Okay, but you are late and we are starting the meeting.’ 

“So I’m running through the F1 paddock – I’ve just changed, fully sweaty, I open the door to the meeting room and then there’s all the engineers, Lewis, Charles, and I’m like, ‘Sorry guys, I’m late!’”

After that difficult first experience, Beganovic was at least able to arrange the logistics to ensure he was more punctual when he received his second call-up at the Austrian Grand Prix. 

“It was a lot better when we went to Spielberg. We organised a scooter to go from the F2 paddock to the F1 paddock. I went in the F2 suit. I went to the Ferrari hospitality and changed. It was so much easier, calmer,” he explained. “I was not stressed at all, actually. It sounds weird, but I was not so nervous for my second time because I’d done it one time before, I know what to expect and I know what I need to do for the team. 

“We had obviously the floor upgrade for both events, so it’s about doing the job for them but also living in the moment that you’re doing it and trying to make them want you to come back in the car.”

Hear more from Dino Beganovic in the latest Feeder Series Podcast episode, released 16 September.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency