- Ferrari rookie racks up 20 trouble-free laps around Bahrain International Circuit
- Swede savours historic moment in Formula 1 race weekend debut
Dino Beganovic has completed his first official Formula 1 race weekend appearance, driving for Scuderia Ferrari HP in Friday’s opening free practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Substituting for multiple race winner Charles Leclerc in the hour-long FP1 session, Beganovic got his first-ever taste of Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 World Championship challenger – the SF-25 – across 20 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit.
The Swedish 21-year-old successfully completed his pre-determined programme, which included two runs on Pirelli’s Hard compound tyres and a final outing on Softs.
Beganovic ended the session 14th fastest overall and second quickest among the six rookie drivers in attendance, less than two tenths off the leading rookie pace.
Beganovic was the only driver in the session to conduct the very first FP1 outing of his career.
In a busy afternoon, Beganovic hurried from the F1 paddock following his practice run to settle back into his regular environment in Formula 2, with qualifying for the feeder series coming up just over an hour later.
Forced to quickly readapt to his Hitech F2 machine, Beganovic crucially managed to qualify in the top ten, ending up ninth on the time charts.
The outcome means Beganovic will line up on the front row for tomorrow’s Formula 2 Sprint Race, which sees the top ten in qualifying reversed on the starting grid.
The Sprint Race is scheduled to take place at 17.15 local time on Saturday.
