The Ferrari team has announced its driver lineup for the Bahrain Grand Prix (April 11-13) with a change in its lineup. Dino Beganovic will be the one driving Charles Leclerc‘s car. The young Swedish driver from the Ferrari academy will have his first opportunity behind the wheel of an F1 car.
Ferrari and the start of the season
The Ferrari team has not had the start to the season that was expected. The Italian team demonstrated its power in the last races of 2024, and it was expected that it would be able to go head-to-head with the Mclaren team this season. The arrival of Lewis Hamilton also seemed like a step forward for the team, where the competition between a seven-time world champion and a more than consolidated Leclerc boded well for the team.
However, neither of the two drivers has been up to scratch, especially in Monaco. Hamilton still has to adapt to the car, but he has already given the only joy to the Italians with the sprint victory in China. However, Leclerc has been well below expectations, out of rhythm and far from the top positions.
Ferrari’s downfall came in the Chinese Grand Prix, where both drivers were disqualified at the end of the race for different reasons. It was a team failure, but it highlights the bad start to the year for a team that had high hopes.
Leclerc is left without a steering wheel
The FIA’s regulatory changes mean that all teams or squads must share one of their driver’s seats with a young talent who has participated in less than two Formula 1 races. In this sense, Ferrari has already given debuts to Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman, who replaced Carlos Sainz during last season’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to the Spaniard’s appendicitis problems.
Next Friday, April 11th, Dino Beganovic will become the fifth driver from the Maranello Academy to get behind the wheel of a Ferrari in Free Practice 1 with Charles Leclerc’s car. The Swedish driver will take the wheel of the SF-25 in the first free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Monegasque driver will thus be the first driver to hand over his seat to a young driver during this season, which is understandable given that, just over a month ago, the drivers were already able to drive on that track, so it is a good time to give way to the young drivers to see how they get on with an F1 car.
Leclerc will race the race
Once the young Swedish driver has completed free practice 1 of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc will get back behind the wheel and will be able to complete free practice 2 and 3, qualifying and the race on Sunday, where he hopes to be able to put Ferrari where it should be and stand up to a Hamilton who, doing very little, has managed to beat him in the first races of the year.
It is clear that Leclerc is not going to have an easy season. In recent years he has overtaken Carlos Sainz in the drivers’ world championship by points, but the battle has been very close. Now he is facing the most successful driver in F1 history in the same team, and he starts with the advantage of knowing the team inside out, while Hamilton has yet to finish adapting. But time is running out and we are all aware that if the Briton has an opportunity to draw blood, he will not miss it. Ferrari bet on the Monegasque and it is about time he stepped up.