In Melbourne, Dino picked up points thanks to a fifth place in the Sprint race, to stay third in the classification.
Formula 3 paid its first ever visit to Albert Park and the Australian track proved to be quite probing. Dino Beganovic was fifth in the Sprint Race and took the chequered flag in eighth in the Feature Race, but he dropped out of the points because of a 10 second time penalty, following a collision on the last lap.
Lots of Safety Cars. Over the course of the two races, the Safety Car appeared no fewer than six times, which had quite a significant effect on the outcome of the races. Beganovic’s points tally did not reflect the potential he showed on track, as he raced tooth and nail to bring home points that will be important in what is going to be a closely contested series.
Sprint Race. “There were many positive aspects,” commented Dino, who started from fifth and had a good race. “I was a bit unlucky on the opening lap, because I was fighting on the outside line and I was “helped” off the track, losing three places. After that, I fought back really well, running at a better pace than those around me. I think I managed the restarts well after the many appearances from the Safety Car.”
Feature Race. Beganovic started from eighth on the grid, managing the restarts well after the two Safety Car periods. In the final laps, the race livened up and Dino got into a close scrap with Caio Collet, which ended with a coming together, for which Dino picked up a time penalty. “It wasn’t an easy race,” he explained. “The start went well and I made up a few places, but after that I made a mistake at Turn 10, which cost me quite a bit of time, especially as the engine went into safety mode and for a few seconds I didn’t have full power. I got going again and managed to make up a place, but overall, it was tough because we were all very close and in that situation the DRS advantage is wiped out.”