Dino Beganovic on his 2024 Season: A challenging but rewarding year

2 October 2024

The 2024 Formula 3 season was a mixed one for Dino Beganovic as while there plenty of positives, a lack of comfort in the car meant he could not always show his best form.

The PREMA Racing driver did make a strong start to his second campaign in the Championship though, taking Pole Position at the season-opener in Sakhir.

However, an issue at lights out dropped him to the back of the field before he impressively recovered to P13. He did win the Feature Race in Melbourne at Round 2, but says once he returned to Europe, things went away from him in the car.

“We started the year in the best way possible in Bahrain,” said Beganovic. “My second season in Formula 3, that's what you expect to target from the beginning of the year, and we executed it very well with pole position in Bahrain, which was huge for me and for the team.

“It didn't go how we wanted in the race but that was out of our control with an issue at the start. Starting from pole it was very tough, but we showed great pace with the fastest lap and also recovering from last to 13th.

“We knew what we had to do when we came to Melbourne, and we took the win on Sunday which I would say was the highlight of the season. After what happened in Bahrain it was amazing to take the win there for me and the team - to get my first win in Formula 3 was very special.

Beganovic's season got off to a great start when he took pole in Sakhir

“But summarising the season in general, it was not what I wanted, a lot of things haven't gone our way after coming to Europe, a lot of difficulties with the car, not having that feeling that I had during the first two rounds and last year where we showed great pace in my rookie campaign.

“So, it's been difficult, also things didn't go our way, like Monaco with the Red Flag, and Silverstone with strategy issues but in the end, we were still in contention to win the title mathematically which is a very positive thing. We maximised what we had been given during the year and that's something to take away from the season.”

Explaining more about the issues he faced, Beganovic detailed why he felt the 2024 season began to get away from him at the in-season test in Barcelona.

He explained how that put him on the backfoot in Qualifying and the races, as he did not feel confident to push the car to its limits over one lap and to go wheel-to-wheel against his rivals.

“It is very unfortunate because looking back at my rookie campaign and my career so far that's one of my strengths as a driver, my pace,” said Beganovic. “My pace has always been strong in Qualifying and the races, and in general just adapting quickly.

“But this year has been the opposite, it's been a weak point, the speed that we have shown has not been great, and we don't know why it was like that.”

Beganovic admits to losing confidence in the car after a strong start to the campaign

Had things gone more in his favour, Beganovic – who ended the season sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 109 points, 44 less than Leonardo Fornaroli – believes he would have been much closer in the title fight.

That is also because of the mentality he had this year, which he looked at as one of the big positives to come from a trying season.

“A positive to take from the year is that we were in contention for the title right to the end, even with all we went through,” he said. “It's been a good year, mentally I have been in a strong place this year compared to last year.

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“I started working with a new mental trainer at the end of last year and we have been working really well together and I think the Dino of last year would not have taken it in the way I took it this year.

“In terms of my mental strength I am much stronger mentally now as a person and a driver, to go through the highs and the lows of this year, I think it takes a lot of strength.

“I would not say it's the best of years as a driver because there are things I could have done better as well but I would say it was a good performance, especially in the mental part.”

Beganovic picked out his victory in the Spa Sprint Race as a memorable moment from the season

Having previously mentioned his victory in Melbourne as a highlight, Beganovic also picked out a few moments from 2024 he will remember fondly.

“Well, I will take away the Melbourne win,” he added. “Starting from P3 and then a very well managed race with tyre management and good race craft as we didn't lose a lot of time overtaking Gabriele and Leonardo Fornaroli. So, that's the highlight.

“As is Bahrain, with the pole as well as the win in Spa. Obviously, the pace wasn't super strong in Spa, that's why we qualified in P12, and it was a Sprint race win but at the same time it was very nice to take it.

“I lost the lead at the start of the race and to get it back in those difficult conditions on a drying track, with slick tyres, it's very challenging as a driver. We made the overtake but then had pressure from behind on a track where slipstream and DRS is important and it's normally easy to overtake, so to keep the pressure from behind away was very special.

“So that Sprint Race win felt like a Feature Race win, and I was also battling with Gabriele, and we are usually at the front in the Feature Race, that's why it felt like a Feature Race win.”