In Formula 1, success largely depends on how effectively the driver interacts with his engineer, on the level of their mutual understanding, and the duo of Lewis Hamilton and Peter “Bono” Bonnington has long been considered one of the exemplary in this regard. But will the seven-time world champion be able to continue working with the co-author of his victories after leaving Mercedes?
According to Toto Wolff, negotiations will soon begin to decide Bono’s future. Lewis has been working with him since 2013. In that time they won 82 Grand Prix and six championship titles and became the most successful driver-engineer duo in Formula 1 history.
Bonnington once worked with Michael Schumacher at Mercedes, and all fans know his voice well, including the classic line he says to Lewis on the radio at decisive race moments: “Hammer time!”
After yesterday’s shocking news about Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari in 2025, the Mercedes team boss was asked whether there had been any discussions about Lewis’ racing engineer.
“I think this is the kind of discussion that everyone needs to have in the coming months,” RacingNews365 quotes Wolff. “I already spoke to Bono and when I told him about it, he responded like this: “Is it April 1 yet?” A conversation on this topic should take place in the next two months.”
One of the difficult aspects is that Bonnington is aware of many Mercedes secrets, and when specialists with secret information change teams, they generally go on a very long sabbatical. If Bono continues to work with Hamilton until the last race of the coming season, Mercedes will then give him the opportunity to move directly to Ferrari with Lewis, even if all other fundamental agreements have been reached.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
