Dino Beganovic left qualifying at the Monaco GP frustrated after a late red flag disrupted his push for a stronger starting position in Round 4 of the 2026 FIA F2 season.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver qualified fifth for Sunday’s Feature Race after setting a 1:21.099 in Group A, finishing just 0.176s behind eventual pole-sitter Rafael Câmara. However, Beganovic felt he had the pace to fight for more after showing strong speed throughout the session.
Beganovic ran near the front from the early stages and briefly topped the timesheets with a 1:21.947. However, John Bennett’s crash at Turn 1 brought out the red flags with just under four minutes remaining, cutting into the final part of the session.
When the track went green again, Beganovic improved his lap time, but the stoppage forced him and DAMS into a compromised run plan. As a result, he could not prepare the tyres the way he wanted before his final attempt.
Beganovic says red flag cost him a cleaner shot
Beganovic made clear after qualifying that he expected more from the session, especially after the pace he had shown before the interruption.
“I’m not happy,” he said. “I feel like that there was a lot more in it today there than what we came out of it with.”
“It’s a shame with the Red Flag that it came in the middle of the session. I also think that being at the back of the pit lane, we were at quite a disadvantage in the end.”
The pit lane position made the restart more difficult for Beganovic. With DAMS near the back of the queue, he had less control over track position and timing once the session resumed.
That left him with no choice but to attack immediately rather than build up to his quickest lap. Around Monte Carlo, where drivers need full confidence and a precise tyre window, that made the final run harder to maximise.
“So, I had to do a push-push at the end and obviously tyres were not really there for the end of the lap,” Beganovic explained. “So I’m very disappointed because I feel like it was more in there today.”
DAMS pace gives Beganovic reason for encouragement
Although Beganovic felt frustrated with the result at the F2 Monaco GP Qualifying, he still found positives in the pace he and DAMS showed. Despite the compromised final sequence, he ended qualifying less than two tenths away from pole.
For Beganovic, that margin showed how much performance remained on the table.
“To be one and a half tenths off with a double push, I think it’s pretty good,” he said. “It means that we had a lot more in it.”
“Obviously, I did a purple in sector one, so I feel like there was a lot more left in the rest of the sector. So, just doing a slower first lap would have been beneficial, but we didn’t have the time for it in the end, and we were kind of forced to do this sequence.”
His purple first sector also underlined the strength of his pace. However, he felt the rest of the lap did not come together because he had to complete two push laps in a row rather than manage the tyres more carefully.
That left Beganovic wondering what he could have achieved with a cleaner run and more time after the red flag.
Beganovic targets points in both Monaco GP races
Beganovic will start sixth in the Sprint Race and fifth in the Feature Race, putting him in position to score points across both races. However, he knows the Monte Carlo street circuit leaves little room for recovery if qualifying does not go perfectly.
Overtaking around Monaco remains difficult, so Beganovic expects strategy and execution to play a key role on Sunday. For now, he wants to focus on collecting as many points as possible from the weekend.
“At the moment it’s just about trying to gain the points that we can,” he said. “I think that’s mainly where our focus will be.”
“We know it’s hard to overtake here, so let’s see if we can do something different for the strategy on Sunday, but otherwise we just need to take the points available.”
Beganovic may have missed out on the result he felt DAMS had the pace to achieve, but his speed in qualifying still keeps him firmly in contention for a strong points haul in Monte Carlo.
