It seems like the 2024 F1 silly season has arrived even before the campaign gets underway, with Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari dropping the shocking announcement of their association from the 2025 season onwards. Amid the chaos and excitement of the move, photos are now surfacing (as seen in the update provided on X by RBR Daily) of his race engineer, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, enjoying a day out on the racetracks alongside Christian Horner.
Notably, the photos were from a few days before the 7-time world champion announced his departure from Mercedes. Horner and his wife, Geri Halliwell, were visiting the races at the Royal Artillery Hunt point-to-point races in the last week of January when an unusual face joined them.
Sources claim Bonnington was with the couple because his partner works with Red Bull in some capacity, giving way to him sharing a good bond with Horner. With Hamilton leaving the Mercedes camp after 11 years, rumors are now arising of Bonnington following in the driver’s footsteps. As such, the photo of Horner and Bonnington has fans questioning whether he will join Red Bull in the coming days.
Meanwhile, there are also rumors of Hamilton wanting to bring Bonnington with him to Maranello and continue their association, which has only grown stronger since 2013. Reports suggest Hamilton wants to have a certain level of familiarity when he reaches Maranello, and Bonnington will be the perfect fit for the same, but the race engineer might not be too enthusiastic about the move.
Toto Wolff has his say on Bonnington following Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes and Toto Wolff are still reeling from the news of Hamilton leaving the team at the end of the 2024 season. Amid the same, problems seem to be on the rise for the Brackley-based outfit as rumors continue to grow of Bonnington leaving for Ferrari, too.
Addressing the same, Wolff claimed the door was open for the race engineer to head out, but it is a topic they will discuss later. “I think this is a decision that everyone needs to have in the months to come.”
He added that when he first spoke to Bonnington of Hamilton’s departure, the 48-year-old asked him if it was April Fool’s Day. Nonetheless, should the situation arise of Bonnington leaving Mercedes, contractual obligations such as undergoing a period of gardening leave and personal complications like moving to Italy might complicate matters for the British engineer.
