Charles Leclerc to miss Brazilian GP FP1 as Ferrari junior steps in

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in their Ferrari overalls.

F1 2026 head-to-head qualifying comparison

Dino Beganovic will contest his third FP1 session of the F1 2026 championship when he replaces Charles Leclerc in the opening practice of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Beganovic has been drafted in after the team’s initial plan to run Rafael Câmara for his practice debut changed when Haas announced the Ferrari junior driver would make his full F1 debut in place of the sacked Esteban Ocon.

Dino Beganovic to drive Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari in Brazilian GP practice

Beganovic will therefore replace Charles Leclerc in the SF-26 as Ferrari completes its third of four mandatory young driver FP1 outings.

Lewis Hamilton will need to relinquish his seat for a second time before the end of the season for Ferrari to meet its quota, as each race driver has to give up his seat for two FP1 sessions.

Ferrari made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Beganovic had previously spoken to the official Formula 2 website about being chosen by Ferrari to cover some of its young driver outings.

“It’s not a driver line-up to joke around about,” said the Swede. “It’s obviously Lewis and Charles, who are very highly rated in Formula 1 and in racing in general.

“So it’s great to be up against them, to be next to them and to learn from them, and also to compare yourself to them in the data.

“Lewis was super nice to me and he opened my eyes a lot as well. He’s pushing the team a lot and he’s so motivated. It’s very inspiring because he’s done so much in his life and career but he’s still wanting to win probably as much as he ever wanted too before.

“It’s very inspiring to see that and also Charles as well is pushing to get that world championship with Ferrari. It’s very cool and that is the stuff I am taking with me too.”

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2026 championship

The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Ferrari’s change of plan came in the wake of Haas’ decision to give its new-for-F1-2027 driver Câmara his full F1 debut in place of Ocon.

Haas fired the Frenchman after a fallout with his race engineer Laura Mueller allegedly led to the breaking point in his relationship with the F1 team.

Ferrari’s decision to replace Leclerc for FP1 means the Monegasque may have a few more minutes at home in Monaco with his wife Alexandra and their new baby girl, Bianca, who was born on Tuesday.

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