Hamilton gives up Ferrari FP1 seat in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton will miss first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Ferrari handing his SF-26 to junior driver Dino Beganovic as it completes Formula 1’s rookie-running requirement at Barcelona-Catalunya.

The decision leaves Hamilton with only two practice sessions instead of the usual three before qualifying and Sunday’s race, a notable trade-off at a circuit teams often use as a clear performance reference.

Ferrari’s move comes under the 2026 rule requiring teams to field a driver with fewer than two Grand Prix starts four times across the season. One summary of the regulation also notes that each full-time driver must give up their seat twice during the year.

For Beganovic, it will be another significant step in his Ferrari development path. The Ferrari Driver Academy member is currently sixth in the Formula 2 standings after finishing seventh in the championship last year, and this will be his third Formula 1 race-weekend appearance after FP1 outings for Ferrari in Bahrain and Austria in 2025.

Dino Beganovic, Ferrari Driver Academy member, said his main target is to adapt quickly to the current car. “Clearly, this is still a very new car for me because of the regulation changes and everything that comes with them, so the priority is to get up to speed as quickly as possible,” he said. He added that his aim is “to do the job the team requires of me, provide useful feedback, and adapt to the car as much as possible.”

That matters more than usual in Barcelona. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is widely treated as a full-track test of a car’s real pace, and several teams have chosen this weekend to run rookies in FP1. Nearly a third of the grid is set to feature substitute drivers in the session, including Leonardo Fornaroli for McLaren, Luke Browning for Williams, Ayumu Iwasa for Red Bull, Paul Aron for Audi and Frederik Vesti for Mercedes.

For Ferrari, the rookie obligation is now met at one of the calendar’s key measuring-stick circuits, but the cost is reduced preparation time for Hamilton on a weekend where the competitive picture tends to come into sharper focus.