Oliver Bearman and Dino Beganovich excelled themselves in the penultimate round of the Formula 2 championship at Lusail. The Englishman won the first race and, on his debut in the category, Beganovic’s performance exceeded expectations.
Ollie. Ollie started off by qualifying tenth: “It wasn’t the best start to the weekend,” he admitted. “But nevertheless I had a good lap on my first set of new tyres and that actually put us in a good grid position for the Sprint Race.” With the reversed grid, Ollie started Saturday’s race from pole. “I knew tyre management would be crucial,” he explained. “We decided to start on the Hard tyres which meant I had to give up the lead in the early stages. The aim was to have better pace towards the end and it actually all went to plan. I was able to get back in the lead and manage the final laps without any bother. It was a good example of teamwork from everyone.” Bearman also started the Feature Race on the Hards, moving into the lead when those who started on Softs pitted. His race got complicated when the Safety Car appeared on lap 10 as the pack closed up, favouring those who had already changed tyres. Bearman led until his pit stop, but eventually finished 12th.
Dino. Despite the fact that Formula 2 is not the easiest of categories for rookies to get used to, Beganovic made a brilliant debut in Qatar, considering he had never driven a Formula 2 car before. His weekend did not get off to the best of starts, given that a technical problem meant he never completed a flying lap. The Swede therefore went into qualifying blind, but a brilliant lap netted him a totally unexpected fourth place. In the Sprint Race, Dino proved it was no fluke by finishing tenth, although he felt he could have done even better. “I had good pace and was comfortably in the points positions when a move from another driver forced me into a spin,” he explained. Sealing a great weekend, Dino was running third for much of the Feature Race, but the arrival of the Safety Car did him no favours. However, he still managed to finish fifth. “I’m happy to have scored my first points in Formula 2,” he said. “I felt comfortable all weekend and fought hard for a great fifth place. I had set myself the goal of bringing the team its first points and in the end I scored ten, going even beyond my expectations. Obviously, I’m very happy and I’m already thinking of next weekend at Yas Marina.”