The other Ferrari F1 test debut being kept hidden for now

Lewis Hamilton’s secretive second test is not Ferrari’s only Formula 1 driver activity that it wanted to keep behind closed doors this week.

Dino Beganovic made his F1 debut at the end of the Barcelona test that the team’s race drivers Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had participated in.

However, unlike with star signing Hamilton, Leclerc, or even Ferrari’s other tester in Barcelona Antonio Giovanazzi, there are no pictures of Beganovic’s outing. It has not even been publicly acknowledged by Ferrari – although the team does not deny he drove.

Beganovic, who will race in Formula 2 this season with Hitech, is understood to have shared the car with Giovinazzi on Thursday, after the Hamilton-Leclerc programme concluded early on Wednesday due to Hamilton’s crash.

It is typical for a Ferrari Driver Academy member to be given their test debut by the team in such outings. The likes of Ollie Bearman and Mick Schumacher were often seen driving older cars in private tests.

What is different with 21-year-old Swede Beganovic is that it has been kept so quiet for now.

Beganovic has driven the team’s simulator and looks set to be an oft-utilised development option this year alongside his F2 programme.

That may offer one explanation for the lack of coverage of his test debut. Teams increasingly tend towards being overprotective of young drivers to manage expectation, scrutiny and pressure. Sometimes, secrecy is adopted for the sake of secrecy.

It may also reflect how Beganovic has been slightly unexpectedly shuffled to the front of Ferrari’s queue of F1 juniors at the start of the new year, and that Ferrari - which is always protective of its drivers - is just wary of managing that. 

The first F1 test is a big step for a driver who, a few months ago, could easily have been dropped from the FDA programme.

Beganovic's second Formula 3 season was disappointing in terms of results – sixth in the championship, the same as his rookie year in 2023 – although various moments of misfortune helped make it look worse than it was. 

But Ferrari was willing to look past that. Two factors may be the F1 work he began to do and the very strong F2 debut he made towards the end of 2024.

He impressed during that cameo with DAMS, scoring a podium and finishing in the top 10 in all four races despite his inexperience in the car – although it seemed as though his FDA place was secure by then already.

With Bearman stepping into a full-time F1 drive at Haas, Beganovic is now Ferrari's ‘most senior’ junior. There is, by extension, a chance to stake his claim for the F1 opportunities that will arise with Ferrari this season. Beganovic has enough points for a superlicence already, and has now completed the required mileage in testing.

Friday practice outings and the post-season test in Abu Dhabi are logical targets for him to aim for.

He could also, theoretically, act as a reserve driver - something that Bearman did prolifically last year with three stand-in appearances across Ferrari and Haas – although a more likely strategy for now is that Ferrari retains an option on Bearman and then Giovinazzi, who has more experience, is made available to Haas in turn.

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Still, more private tests and eventually driving for Ferrari on an official grand prix weekend would put Beganovic on the brink of an F1 chance that looked distant at best as last season developed.

After a largely luckless 2024 on-track, some stars have finally aligned. It gives Beganovic a (still difficult) path to being Ferrari’s next protege to earn an F1 race seat, especially if his full F2 season is as competitive as the late 2024 cameo hinted it could be.