Beganovic started karting in 2011. He won multiple national championships, such as the Swedish OK Junior karting category in 2018.[2] In 2019, Beganovic won the OK category in both the Swedish and Italian championships and finished second in WSK Euro Series the same year.[3][4]
Lower formulae
In 2020, Beganovic made his single-seater debut, competing in the Italian F4 Championship with Prema Powerteam.[5] There, he began with a podium during the Misano opener,[6] before securing a first pole position at the next round at Imola.[7] He returned to the podium in Mugello, scoring a double podium.[8] He took his maiden single-seater win during the second Imola round, as he led every lap from pole position in a weekend which included a complete podium sweep.[9][10] With the aforementioned win, six podiums and 179 points, Beganovic placed third behind Francesco Pizzi and championship winner Gabriele Minì in the overall standings.[11] He also participated in select rounds of the ADAC Formula 4 with Prema, scoring twelve points across two weekends.[12][13]
Beganovic made his Formula Three debut in 2021, competing in both the F3 Asian Championship and the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema.[14] He began his former season with an impressive double second place in Dubai,[15] before racking up two more podiums in the remaining two rounds that he competed in, placing seventh in the overall standings with five rookie wins.[16]
In his main campaign, Beganovic experienced a tough first half of the season, only managing to score twelve points with a best finish of eighth twice.[17] However, he impressed with a fourth place and the rookie win when the second half of the season began in Spa-Francorchamps,[18] before securing a first podium in Valencia.[19] Beganovic took his first pole position for the final race of the season in Monza,[20] but he retired after being involved in a collision with teammate David Vidales while fighting for the lead.[21] He finished the season thirteenth in the standings, scoring two rookie wins, one podium and 53 points.
During the 2022 pre-season, Beganovic took part in the Formula Regional Asian Championship with Mumbai Falcons.[22] After technical issues blighted his progress during the first round,[23] Beganovic bounced back with a second place podium for the first Dubai round.[24] His only win came during the second Dubai round, in a weekend where he also claimed a third place.[25] Despite a non-scoring round 4,[26] Beganovic ended his campaign with a double podium during the second Yas Marina round, allowing to finish fifth in the standings with one win, five podiums and 130 points.[27]
Beganovic remained in the Formula Regional European Championship with Prema Powerteam.[28] He began the season in Monza, taking his first FRECA win from pole before following it up with second the next day.[29][30] He won for a second time the next time out in Imola after original winner Gabriele Minì was penalised.[31] Beganovic secured a third victory in Monaco and a double Paul Ricard rostrum which further extended his championship lead to 63 points.[32][33] Although his podium streak ended the next round in Zandvoort, he managed to rescue a third place during the second race.[34] Beganovic was forced to cope with his first non-podium round at the Hungaroring,[35] but returned with a final win of the year in Spa-Francorchamps.[36] After another double podium finish at the Red Bull Ring,[37] Beganovic clinched the title by finishing fourth in Mugello with a race to spare.[38] He had achieved four wins, thirteen podiums and 300 points to win the championship.[39]
2023
At the start of 2023 before his main F3 campaign, Beganovic returned to the newly rebranded Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Mumbai Falcons, taking part in the first two rounds.[40] He won the first race of the season in Dubai after an intense fight with Gabriele Minì for the lead.[41] He would take another win the next round in Kuwait, rounding out his FRMEC campaign with fifth place in Race 3.[42] With these results, Beganovic placed 11th in the standings with 62 points.
On 20 September, Prema announced that Beganovic would be participating in a three-day FIA F3 test at Jerez, alongside Paul Aron and Zak O'Sullivan.[43] A month later, Beganovic was confirmed to drive for the team in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, having the "FDA [do] everything to get 2023 F3 seat at Prema".[44][45] The campaign began with promise, as he took his maiden podium during the feature race at the Bahrain season opener after finishing fourth on Saturday, having come through from his starting spot of eighth.[46][47] Another eighth in qualifying followed in Melbourne and he finished in fifth place for the sprint, but a penalty after a last-lap collision with Caio Collet during the feature race demoted Beganovic out of the points.[48] In Monaco, Beganovic set the fastest lap in his qualifying group to secure a front row start.[49] After failing to score during the sprint race, Beganovic was able to follow polesitter Gabriele Minì home, taking a second place and his second podium of the series.[50][51] In Barcelona, described by Beganovic as "not [his] strongest circuit",[52] yielded a mixed bag, as the Swede compensated for a retirement in the sprint race owing to a collision caused by Grégoire Saucy to finish third during the feature race, which moved him to third in the standings.[53][54] In Austria, he qualified on the front row, missing out on pole by 0.004s.[55] though he dropped back on Sunday due to high amounts of tyre degradation, which he explained had come as a result of him pushing "way too hard" in the early stages of the contest.[56]
In qualifying for the event at Silverstone, an engine issue befell his car before he could set a flying lap, forcing him to start from last place. Despite gaining a total of 33 places throughout the two races, Beganovic was forced to cope with his first non-scoring round of the campaign.[57] A swift bounce-back in Budapest followed as he secured another front row start in qualifying,[58] before maintaining his position to finish in second place in the feature race, trailing teammate Zak O'Sullivan by two seconds at the finish.[59] He experienced a disappointing weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, as contact with Gabriel Bortoleto in the sprint race caused Beganovic to receive a penalty and drop out of the points, whilst a wrong strategy on a damp track meant he finished down in 16th place.[60] In the Monza season finale, Beganovic's lap was deleted in qualfiying, confining him to 23rd.[61] However, he made up places during the races, securing ninth place and points in the season-ending feature race.[62] Beganovic finished his rookie Formula 3 season sixth in the standings with 96 points and four podiums, being the highest placed driver not to win a race.[63][64]
Beganovic remained with Prema for post-season testing in Jerez, where he set the fastest time overall on the second day.[65][66][67] He would compete in the Macau Grand Prix with Prema, alongside Aron and Minì.[68] After finishing fourth in the qualification race, Beganovic crashed out of the main race whilst attempting an overtake for second place on Minì.[69]
Beganovic remained with Prema Racing for the 2024 season, alongside Gabriele Minì and Red Bull juniorArvid Lindblad.[70] Beganovic achieved his first pole position in the Bahrain opener.[71][72] However, it went unrewarded as contact in the sprint race forced him to pit on the opening lap, and a start issue in the feature race caused him to plummet to the back.[73][74] Despite that, he recovered to 13th place.[75] In Melbourne, Beganovic secured third in qualifying.[76] He had a great run in the sprint race as he moved up to sixth place at the flag,[77] only for him to be penalised and dropped to 13th for forcing Sebastián Montoya off-track.[78] In the feature race, Beganovic would overhaul teammate Minì and leader Leonardo Fornaroli to get his maiden Formula 3 win.[79][80] Beganovic had another good weekend in Imola, securing a pair of top-5 finishes.[81]
Beganovic would finish the races seventh and sixth in Monaco, although a red flag in qualifying hampered a chance for him to improve.[82] He then had a challenging Barcelona weekend, where he managed only two eighth-places in the races.[83] In Austria, Beganovic qualified fifth, but a first-lap spin in the sprint race caused him to fall to the back, eventually finishing 15th.[84] In the feature race, he moved into second place in the beginning of the race, staying within DRS range of Luke Browning for the majority of the race. However, teammate Minì soon passed him after the Swede lost DRS, forcing Beganovic to settle with third place.[85][86] An unlucky timing in qualifying Silverstone confined Beganovic to 19th for both races, and he was unable to recover from there, forcing him to cope with his first non-scoring weekend of the season.[87] Starting on reverse pole for the Budapest sprint race, Beganovic lost out to Nikita Bedrin at the start. Despite fighting with significant tyre wear, he settled for third place after an unsuccessful overtake on Bedrin caused him to lose another position.[88][89] He finished ninth in the feature race.[90]
Qualifying again on reverse pole in Spa-Francorchamps,[91] Beganovic fended off attacks from Minì to take his second win of the season in mixed conditions.[92][93] However, he narrowly missed out on points in the feature race with eleventh place, placing him at an outside chance for the title.[94][95] In the Monza finale, Beganovic finished fourth in the sprint race and ninth in the feature, having been down in 17th place during the latter.[96][97] He once again finished the season sixth in the standings, this time taking two wins, one pole, four podiums and 109 points.[98] Beganovic returned to the Macau Grand Prix with Prema,[99] he finished the race in eighth.[100]
FIA Formula 2 Championship
2024
Beganovic made the step up to Formula 2 for the final two rounds of the 2024 season with DAMS Lucas Oil, replacing Juan Manuel Correa and partnering Jak Crawford.[101] On his F2 debut in Qatar, he managed to qualify in an excellent fourth.[102] While he failed to get points in the sprint race after being spun around by Miyata,[103] Beganovic finished fifth in the Qatar feature race.[104] In the Yas Marina season finale, he secured himself fifth in qualifying.[105] In the sprint race, Beganovic took advantage of the chaos to finish in fourth place, but following a disqualification for Paul Aron, Beganovic was promoted to third, scoring his first Formula 2 podium.[106][107] The next day, he finished seventh despite gear issues during the race.[108] Throughout his two-round cameo appearance, Beganovic scored 22 points and finished 20th in the standings.[109]
At the start of 2020 and his single-seater career, Beganovic was announced to be joining the Ferrari Driver Academy.[111] During the Covid-19 lockdown, Beganovic raced for Ferrari in the Bahrain Virtual GP.[112]
Personal life
Beganovic was born in Linköping, Sweden. His parents, Fikret and Mirnesa emigrated to Sweden from Bosnia and Herzegovina before he was born. He has a younger brother, Emir, who plays football for ÅFF.[113]
Beganovic is an avid sim-racer and was a member of the famed Team Wrongline. He participated in many races and social events for the time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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