Ferrari have announced that seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton will be joined by a different team-mate on track ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc prepares to step aside.
It was Hamilton who handed his machinery over to Ferrari driver academy member Dino Beganovic in Barcelona last time out, before stepping back into the SF-26 for the rest of the weekend.
The British star then struggled after getting very little running in at the wheel of his Ferrari in FP2, admitting to media: “Normally, it’s okay to miss FP1, but it had a huge offset.”
But that disadvantage Hamilton spoke of didn’t last long.
The 41-year-old went on to enjoy a historic Sunday in Catalonia as he brought an end to his 686-day grand prix victory drought, secured his first win in red and broke the record for the most wins at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (seven).
Leclerc on the other hand suffered yet another disappointing outing, picking up his second DNF in as many races after he was forced to retire on lap 62 with a mechanical issue.
And Ferrari have just confirmed that it is now his turn to hand over his car for FP1, once again for Beganovic.
Leclerc to step aside for Beganovic at Red Bull Ring
Ahead of this weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring, Ferrari announced that academy driver and F2 star Dino Beganovic will be piloting Leclerc’s car for FP1 to help fulfill the Scuderia’s rookie driver quota for 2026.
In a post on their official social media accounts, Ferrari confirmed: “Jumping back in the SF-26 in Spielberg, Dino Beganovic will drive in FP1 this weekend.”
This means it won’t be Leclerc’s name joining Hamilton up on the timing charts for the first practice session on Friday, but instead Beganovic’s.
The driver swap shouldn’t harm Leclerc’s weekend and is instead designed to help Beganovic get valuable track time at the wheel of an F1 car before jumping straight into proceedings for the sixth round of his F2 season.
Beganovic’s outing in Austria will mark his second session in an F1 car in as many race weekends after taking to the track as one of seven rookies handed the chance to take part in FP1 in Barcelona.
Assuming everything goes to plan for the Swedish-Bosnian racer, Leclerc will jump back into the car for FP2 at 5pm local time (CEST).
Jumping back in the SF-26 in Spielberg, @DinoBeganovic4 will drive in FP1 this weekend 💪 pic.twitter.com/ENAg5gsJWq
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 24, 2026
