As the reigning Formula Regional European champion, Ferrari Driver Academy prospect Dino Beganovic has a lot of pressure on his shoulders as he graduates this year to Formula 3. The Swedish youngster is riding high after claiming his first title in car racing last October, and is one of the series’ most exciting young prospects heading into this season.
Beganovic, who claimed four wins and four pole positions in Formula Regional by Alpine last year, has driven for junior single-seater powerhouse Prema since 2020. He continues his journey into F3 with the Italian squad and has some illustrious names to emulate: from the current F1 grid, Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri have won F3 titles with the team over the past decade; Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Piastri have claimed F2 crowns.
While his win tally wasn’t sensational in FRegional in 2022, it was his run of finishing the first eight of the 20 races in the top two that was remarkable, especially bearing in mind the grid size in the mid-thirties. In the early weeks of this year, he’s kept sharp by contesting the first two FRegional Middle East Championship rounds, claiming a win apiece in Dubai and Kuwait. So although the step to F3 is daunting for any young driver, Beganovic says he feels good.
“After coming away with a really strong season in FRECA, winning the championship, I could not feel better,” he declares prior to setting the second-fastest time in Bahrain testing.
“I feel prepared. We have done FRMEC to prepare and get back to the racing environment, and it feels really good. Our targets are set to what to expect and what to try to get out of the test before the first race.”
Had he remained in the Middle East, Beganovic would have had a very strong chance of the FRMEC title, and he welcomed being back in a racing environment. Better, however, to prepare for F3, especially with the final two FRMEC rounds sandwiching the three-day F3 test in Bahrain. He reckons that the full campaign would have been “way too much”.
Beganovic is wary of putting too much pressure on himself, a lesson he learned the hard way in 2021. He had a hugely successful 2020, from a promising scouting camp resulting in his adoption by Ferrari to his maiden single-seater campaign in Italian F4, where he finished third in the standings. He moved up to FRECA the following year, but finished down in 13th in his rookie season, while team-mate and Mercedes F1 protege Paul Aron was third.
“I had two really good team-mates [Aron and David Vidales], they were strong, they were second season in the category,” he says. “So I think I put maybe a bit too high expectations on myself in the beginning. In the end, though, mid-season, I focused more on myself to improve and then everything started to go better as well.
“I would say that I just put too much pressure on myself in the beginning, and I wanted to be at the top too much. I had some stupid crashes here and there when I could have taken points or rookie wins. But yeah, I just wanted more than that.”
"We will keep pushing each other, so I think we’re a help and maybe a pain in the ass for both of us. But it’s in a good way" Dino Beganovic on Paul Aron
Beganovic bounced back the following year, imposing himself over runner-up Gabriele Mini (who had won the 2020 Italian F4 title) and Aron (third again). He attributes this to his pre-season preparation being key to reversing his 2021 struggles, and starting the season with a win put him in the best possible position.
“I think I showed myself what I can do, but also others,” he explains. “It maybe got in the head of others as well, that I’m really strong, that I’m a championship contender, and that I didn’t really want to move from that position. As we saw, consistency is super-important to win a championship.
“Last year in F3 [where several drivers were in title contention until the final round], you can take a lot of things out of it. In the end, I think nobody can say that they had a clean season, a good season, because there was much left on the table with maybe crashes or missed opportunities, especially in the top six positions.
“But last year in FRECA if you lose a race, it’s really difficult to gain it back, and that was what made the difference. No stupid risks. I didn’t have any DNFs either.”
It’s with those lessons behind him that Beganovic heads into his rookie F3 campaign, with Aron once again his team-mate alongside returning F3 driver Zak O’Sullivan, who switches over from Carlin for his second campaign in the series. All three began their work together in the post-season test at Jerez last September.
“From his [Aron’s] side and my side, we have been pushing each other quite a lot,” points out Beganovic. “We are very competitive, but also we have been helping the team, because the team was not on top in 2021.
“In 2022, we won the drivers’ championship and the teams’ championship. That’s because of the work we put in over the winter break, and the car we developed during the season in 2021. We will keep pushing each other, so I think we’re a help and maybe a pain in the ass for both of us. But it’s in a good way.”
The support of Ferrari has proved valuable to Beganovic, with fellow Academy members and 2022 F3 drivers Ollie Bearman and Arthur Leclerc on hand to provide further advice as he enters his maiden campaign. He lives in Maranello, and says the “opportunity to go to the factory every day, to train in Ferrari and to have meetings with Ferrari engineers, it’s a huge advantage, which I’m very happy about”.
Further support comes in the form of Swedish touring car legend Rickard Rydell. The 1998 BTCC champion serves not only as Beganovic’s manager, but as his mentor and coach, with the youngster saying he is “one of the keys behind my career”. They joined forces at the end of 2018, and it was Rydell who helped Beganovic progress from karting to single-seaters.
Born in southern Sweden to Bosnian immigrants, Beganovic now finds himself on the F1 support package, with millions of eyes on him for the first time – including the “huge support” he receives from followers in his home country.
“My expectations are to always be in the front fighting for the top positions, to be competitive,” he reckons. “Prema have done an amazing job all the years and the plan is to keep on going with the goal to win the championship.”
What the boss says
Prema boss Rene Rosin has overseen Dino Beganovic’s entire career in car racing, and he’s been impressed with what he’s seen. First off, in 2020, his third place in Italian Formula 4 came as fellow rookie and Prema team-mate Gabriele Mini won the crown.
“He was fighting constantly for the win and podium in the final rounds,” recalls Rosin. “Honestly, his progression was pretty good. Then he moved with us in Regional. The first year, he did some good stuff at the beginning, then I must say maybe we were not on top of the game ourselves. We were struggling a bit, not really as we want it.
“And after that, he stuck with us and we really put our feet down trying to understand where to improve, how to improve for 2022. And last year, he did an amazing job in Regional. So after that, it was logical to step up with us in Formula 3.”
"Monaco I think it was a master lap and a master race. Overall, he did a very good season, very consistent" Rene Rosin
Rosin praises Beganovic’s consistency and determination, with his six-race, 129-point charge at the start of the season proving crucial to the teams’ title.
“Monaco I think it was a master lap and a master race,” he proclaims. “Overall, he did a very good season, very consistent. Even after the DSQ [from second place] he got in Paul Ricard, other drivers would have been affected on their mind. Instead, he continued working, continued pushing in the right direction, and then he secured the championship.”
Despite being coy about his expectations for Beganovic in 2023 and saying the team will “watch race-by-race, doing our job in the best way as possible”, it is clear Rosin has high hopes for the Swedish youngster.
