F1 lessons and keeping calm under pressure: How I Race with Dino Beganovic

14 August 2025

Dino Beganovic is the latest member on the grid to give us insight into how he goes about his racing in Formula 2.

The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy (SFDA) and Hitech TGR driver dives into what he’s learned about his own style and how he’s evolved since his formative years in racing.

“I think I’m a driver that let’s say is more on the thinking side of things. I’m thinking about risk versus reward, not impulsive, calmer and more collected when I make up positions, I’ve thought about it already. I would say that’s my style in both qualifying and races, but it obviously affects the races more.

“It’s evolved a lot for sure. I’ve always had it in me to be thinking about things a lot. But one thing would get in the way and that’s emotions.

“When you get emotional, you make impulsive decisions, and you’ve not weighed up whether it’s worth it or not. I think that is where I was a bit stuck in the beginning of my career, being emotional in my driving which isn’t a positive thing.

“Having understood that, winning the year in Regional by being calm and collected and always getting the points, it was like a receipt for me – that is the way to work.

“Since then, working a lot on the mental aspect to keep emotions in check. It’s easy to say but difficult to do.

“I normally like to do the mental preparations on my own. I do my own thing with my mental trainer and then from SFDA, I’m getting support both before and after a weekend on what we can improve.

“Also, being in the F1 simulator, though it’s more for the development of the car, it also gives me a lot of preparation for weekends along with experience. I’m improving by being consistent in the sim, fast and giving good feedback.

“There are definitely things that are a benefit to have their support from not only any F1 team, but Ferrari. It’s special to feel that support from them. I know how to use their support instead of letting any kind of pressure affect me.

“I think my style doesn’t change now, because Ferrari like the way I work so I try to keep things the same. It seems like they are happy with me because they’ve put me in the car this year for FP1s.

“I’m very happy about it and it means that I really feel very supported from their side. It gives me confidence when I get those kinds of calls to do it. But, at the end of the day, it’s work for the team and I’m very focused on doing the job they’re asking of me. That’s what’s going to get me back into the car if the work I’ve done has been done in a good way. You’re always looking for the next step forward, but I’m not stressed about it.

“In Formula 2, you don’t get much track time at all and a lot is done in terms of preparation for the event, both the team and yourself mentally. You need to be on it and if you’re not, you’re going to be a step back when you get onto the track in FP.

“It’s a lot of prep on the sim but having good communication with the engineer and aligning what you want to do for FP and then making that step forward for qualifying. Taking that opportunity to build your weekend in up FP to know your limits in quali is very important.

“My approach to weekends has definitely changed. In the first few weekends of F3 – I was actually too conservative, so the hype about building up a weekend, I almost overdid it and did too much of a step back which left me having to make a bigger step in qualifying.

“I came into the sessions and was left facing a huge step in order to be quick. It’s about finding that balance between not being too conservative but not going over the limit which will cost you track time, and that’s even worse.

“I think my biggest strength is my calmness. I’m able to be collected in situations like qualifying or in the races, whatever happens, I’m able to reset. It’s not always been my biggest strength, it goes up and down like your emotions do. But, being able to bring things back is a plus.

“Bringing it back to a technical focus, I feel that I’m a good qualifier. And that links back to being calm, not too emotional and able to focus when you need to put that lap together. I’m normally able to deliver it and it’s been a trend since karting. I hope to keep it going.”