Dino Beganovic: My Ultimate Driver

19 June 2023

Dino Beganovic has made a strong and steady start to life in Formula 3, sitting third in the Championship at the halfway mark. With a short break before the next round of action in Spielberg, we got the PREMA Racing ace to craft his ultimate driver.

Looking back on those drivers that have stood out to him from an early age, the Ferrari junior picks out those he most admires to form an all-round racer, with one even finding their way into his schoolwork.

INTELLIGENCE

“I would say Lewis Hamilton. There’s a reason why he’s a seven-time World Champion, so I think he’s done a fantastic job. He not only has the pace, but he’s really intelligent and you have to be intelligent to win so many World Championships, which comes with experience. I think he’s a very complete driver in this sense.”

DRIVING IN THE WET/DRY

“Max Verstappen – I think he adapts very quickly and easily in the wet. I remember I was actually doing a presentation in school about him driving in the wet and I took Brazil 2016 as the example when he spun and recovered really well. I was just so impressed by it when I was little and still am.”

QUALIFYING

“Qualifying and one lap pace has to be Charles Leclerc. I think he surprised many people with his lap two years ago in Monaco and this year in Baku. When he has to do it, he just gets everything out of the car and a little bit more, so that’s why he’s my driver for Qualifying.”

CORNERING

“This is a hard one! I’d say George Russell, he just seemed very consistent and to be consistent, you need to hit every apex and do well at cornering.”

TYRE MANAGEMENT

“Sergio Perez. I haven’t been involved with him so much as he’s in another team, but I heard from many different teams and people that have worked with him that he’s really good with tyres. He treats them really well, even when he’s pushing, he’s not sliding too much and exaggerating the tyres.”

BRAVERY

“I’d say Max again. One moment that stands out is the 2021 Championship when he was fighting against Lewis. Sometimes Red Bull had the better car, sometimes Mercedes did and sometimes they were equal, but Max was the leading man and Lewis was the one that had to avoid crashing with Max because he was the one taking more risks. Most of the time it paid off and he won the Championship.”

SMOOTH OR AGGRESSIVE

“Ultimately, I would say in the middle, but maybe more on the smooth side because taking risks and those kinds of things, you don’t win Championships with.”

OVERTAKING

“Past Daniel Ricciardo. People that have started watching Formula 1 in the last three years, they maybe haven’t seen Daniel Ricciardo in his prime when he was in the Red Bull. He did some crazy moves that nobody else could pull off. One move that stands out was in Monza, I think it was with Felipe Massa. He was far back behind him and he just managed to overtake him without locking up or anything and just as a person, I really love it.”

ANYTHING ELSE?

“I noticed I didn’t say my idol Michael Schumacher for any of these. He was really good at working with the team, being nice with the mechanics and engineers, having a really good connection with them and motivating the team to go forward. If my driver has that, then they’re complete.”