Bono won’t follow Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari after Mercedes F1 promotion

Lewis Hamilton will receive a new race engineer when he joins Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season.

Hamilton’s current race engineer, Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, has been promoted into a new role as head of race engineering at Mercedes, Crash.net has learned.

Bonnington has taken up the position with immediate effect but will continue to engineer Hamilton for the rest of the season, before working with a new driver at Mercedes in 2025.

News of Bonnington’s promotion puts an end to speculation that he could follow Hamilton in moving to rivals Ferrari.

Bonnington has served as Hamilton’s race engineer for the past 12 years since the seven-time world champion first arrived at Mercedes, and the pair have forged one of the most formidable driver-engineer partnerships in F1 history.

Hamilton has won six drivers’ world championships and helped Mercedes secure eight constructors’ titles while working alongside Bonnington.

Bonnington has been at the Brackley outfit since 2006 during the team’s Honda era. He acted as Michael Schumacher’s race engineer when the legendary seven-time world champion returned to F1 with Mercedes between 2010 and 2012.

Crash.net understands that Hamilton’s current deal includes a ‘non-poaching’ clause which prevents Ferrari from being able to lure key Mercedes personnel along with him.

Speaking in the days after Hamilton's bombshell switch to Ferrari was confirmed, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted Bono's future would be a topic for discussion. 

"I think this is a discussion which everyone needs to have in the months to come," Wolff said.

"And as much as I've spoken with Bono already, when I told him [about Hamilton's move] he said, 'Is it April the first?' That's something which we will discuss in the future."

It is not yet known who Bonnington will engineer at Mercedes next year.

George Russell currently works with Marcus Dudley, while Hamilton’s replacement is yet to be confirmed, though Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the overwhelming favourite to take the outgoing Briton’s vacant seat.

Hamilton, meanwhile, is likely to work with Riccardo Adami when he starts at Ferrari. Adami currently works with Carlos Sainz, who Hamilton will replace in 2025.