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Getting good at golf and working with Ferrari: Behind the Visor with Dino Beganovic
Dino Beganovic has enjoyed himself on track over the last few rounds as an uptick in form has brought improved results, including a maiden win in Formula 2.
Away from the track though, the Hitech TGR takes things rather easy, as he explained to us ahead of the in-season break ahead of Round 13.
“Playing golf is one of the things I really love outside of racing. I started playing two years ago. Since then, I completely got stuck on it and it has really become a hobby that I enjoy doing.
“In the summer, most of the days were spent just playing golf with friends, which I enjoyed a lot. The biggest thing in golf or what I enjoy is that you can always track your progress, which is pretty nice because it brings out the competitive side of you, and you can always push yourself. So I really enjoy that.
“My current handicap is seven, which is almost too low… In the break now I’ll be playing lots of golf, but also staying with friends and family, which is the main thing. But a lot of Golf with my friends. 90-95% of the days I’m at home in Sweden is playing golf.
“For me at least, I don't know if it's the same for anyone else, but for me it's very important having something you can push for outside of racing and trying to get better at it, but just getting your head out of racing for a bit is crucial.
“It’s quite individual from person to person what side they fall into. For example, during the summer break, I wasn't really involved in any racing at all. For two weeks. I did a lot of sim before going to the break, and then after the break, I did the race reports at Ferrari.
“But during those two weeks in between, I just stayed home, and then when I got back to the sim it was like a reminder to me why I love doing what I'm doing, or appreciating what I'm doing more when I'm disconnecting from it for a bit.
“I think for me, in the long term, you need a passion. And I love doing karting as well, I do it in the winter quite often, but in the summer, for those two weeks, it was just time to relax a bit and stay home and stay in shape physically as well.
“And then obviously I like staying with family and friends, that’s one of the main things for me to recharge after races and during weekends, to get outside of racing for a bit in order to be ready for the next one.
“Sometimes it comes up when talking at the dinner table, it's always coming up. But just staying with them and being with my loved ones, I can kind of just relax and be myself even more and not trying to be someone that you're not.
“Fitness, that's the main thing in the breaks, and it helps you keep your mind on the right things in life.
“Other than that, I’ve been doing a lot of sim. The virtual world is becoming a bigger part all the time in the racing world, so spending a lot of time in the sim, and especially for the development work for next year with Ferrari - to be a part of that is very big.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on that, and I think that it's a good thing. I always say it's a good thing to be busy, it’s a privilege to be part of a project like that. I'm just a small part of it in sim, but it feels very cool to be a part of it and helping out the Ferrari F1 team.”