The Mercedes F1 outfit announced on August 21 that Lewis Hamilton’s long-standing race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington has been promoted internally to the position of head of trackside performance and will stay with the Silver Arrows in 2025 and beyond. This confirms that Bono will not be leaving the team to join Hamilton at Ferrari next year, as some previous rumors may have suggested. Although their relationship will come to an end from next year onwards, Hamilton was yet delighted to know about Bono’s promotion, as per Craig Slater.
Slater revealed, “He [Bono] is still on the best of terms with Lewis Hamilton. In fact, I have learned that Lewis is extremely pleased [about Bono’s promotion].”
Slater also confirmed that reports about Bonnington potentially leaving Mercedes for Ferrari were completely unfounded. Rather, it is understood that there were never really any serious talks about Bono jumping ship to follow the #44 driver.
As per the new deal that Bono inked with the Brackley-based team, he will be overseeing the entire race engineering operations from next year onwards. It is also being suggested that he will be the engineer of one of the two Mercedes drivers in the coming seasons.
The end of an iconic duo
Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington secures a promotion at Mercedes – meaning he won’t move to Ferrari with Lewis #F1https://t.co/REymRMmrBb
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 21, 2024
This news would come as a shock to many who believed that Bono would be moving with Hamilton to Ferrari. The duo have become one of the most successful driver-engineering pairings in the sport and share a great relationship off the track as well. Now, Bono is likely to play a role in developing Kimi Antonelli.
Slater expects Bono to get Antonelli up to speed at Mercedes
Bono’s promotions also hint at a system being placed within the team for Antonelli’s ascension. The 18-year-old is likely to make his F1 debut for the Silver Arrows in 2025. Before he does so, he is set to drive the W15 during FP1 at the 2024 Italian GP, replacing Hamilton.
Kimi with Bono at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday ❤️ pic.twitter.com/OCpqfYjfgy
— Kimi Antonelli Updates (@AndreaKimiNews) August 1, 2024
Slater also believes that Bono will be central to Antonelli‘s development within the team and is confident that the 49-year-old is the perfect man to lead this development. “My understanding is that Bonnington is seen as having the perfect resume to guide someone like Antonelli through what would be a high-pressure situation in a debut season.”
