Beganovic begins F3 charge with Melbourne win
The Formula 3 action was dialled up to 11 around the Albert Park circuit last weekend, with the four DRS zones providing a thrill-a-minute display. It culminated in Dino Beganovic finally scoring his first F3 win, the Ferrari protege at last kick-starting his 2024 title challenge with his first points of the season besides the two he claimed for taking pole position in Bahrain.
Beganovic was third in qualifying this time, behind second-placed Prema Racing team-mate Gabriele Mini, and session-topping Trident driver Leonardo Fornaroli. But in Saturday’s partially reversed grid sprint race it was Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech GP) and poleman Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix) who fought out the lead. The duo swapped positions on multiple occasions, despite a tag from behind from the ART car of Christian Mansell costing Stenshorne time with a sideways moment. Eventually Stenshorne made it stick on the fifth lap and was never headed from there on, the Norwegian F3 rookie also surviving a late safety car restart.
By the time of that caution, Arvid Lindblad had worked his way through to second place, the Prema-run Red
Bull Junior passing van Hoepen at Turn 3 just before half-distance. Van Hoepen was third, while local hero Mansell faded, the Australian reporting damage to his car from early-race contact. Mari Boya was fourth from Oliver Goethe and Beganovic, but a penalty for a passing move on Sebastian Montoya relegated the Swede to 13th and promoted Mini to sixth position.
Sunday’s feature race was dramatic from the start, with Tim Tramnitz squeezed into the side of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who got stranded in the gravel. Later in the opening lap, at Turn 11, Joseph Loake attempted an ambitious move around the outside of Tommy Smith, which ended with the pair stuck in the gravel. Sophia Florsch also retired with crash damage.
At the front, Fornaroli led Mini and Beganovic into the inevitable safety car period. Nikita Bedrin was fourth, but at the restart championship leader Luke Browning, who had finished a lap down on Saturday following a pitstop, began his recovery from an average start by working past the Russian. Lindblad also took advantage to get through into fifth.
Across the weekend, the run to Turn 9 emerged as a primary overtaking spot, with drivers using DRS to pull off a move around the outside of the left-hander, before enjoying an additional DRS boost out of Turn 10 to stretch an immediate advantage.
This was where Browning chose to make his move to climb into third at the expense of Mini, and it was also where, on lap 14 of 23, Fornaroli appeared to wave Beganovic through into the lead.
With tyre wear heavy and DRS advantage key, there were suspicions that the Trident driver was playing a tactical game by stealing DRS in order to make a move in the closing stages. But no such move materialised, with Beganovic pulling out of range in the final laps. Mini reclaimed third from Hitech driver Browning after saving his tyres expertly in the middle of the race.
Charlie Wurz emerged from the frantic battling behind to take fifth ahead of Montoya, Boya and Bedrin, while Lindblad slipped to 11th.