Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, decided to surprise him before the former’s transfer to Ferrari. Bonnington, better known as Bono, made a surprising appearance wearing Tommy Hilfiger’s Hamilton outfit, and the seven-time world champion was surprised the moment he saw it.
Hamilton ran his final race for Mercedes at the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As he parts ways with the Silver Arrows, he also severs his working ties with Bonnington, with whom he worked for nearly a decade.
Ahead of Hamilton’s latest move to Maranello, Bonnington donned the seven-time world champion’s Tommy Hilfiger kit during his paddock appearances. Seeing “Bono” in the sky blue denim outfit, Hamilton expressed his surprise.
The Mercedes driver uploaded a series of photos with his race engineer to his Instagram account, with the caption:
“Two legends. Bono and Tommy.”
Hamilton is set to join Ferrari next season after the British driver signed a multi-year deal with the Prancing Horse earlier this year. Despite having a one-year plus one contract with him, he chose to race in the Scarlet Ferraris from 2025.
Lewis Hamilton leaves Mercedes after 12 long years. He won six of his seven F1 titles here, making it the most successful driver-team combination. In addition to six titles, he won 84 victories, took 78 pole positions and achieved 78 podiums.
The entire Mercedes AMG F1 team, including teammate George Russell, team principal Toto Wolff and race engineer Peter Bonnington, sent farewell messages to the departing driver.
The 39-year-old will join his former F2 team boss, Fred Vasseur, and Monaco driver, Charles Leclerc. He will replace Carlos Sainz, who joined Williams.
Lewis Hamilton opened up about his relationship with Peter Bonnington
Before his move to Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton spoke about how close he was to Peter Bonnington, his racing engineer. The duo started working together in 2013 and stayed until the end of 2024.
“What a roller coaster it’s been with Bono, he’s been one of my closest friends for many years and it’s something I didn’t expect to have because he worked with Michael Schumacher, other great drivers,” Hamilton said (via Sports Illustrated).
“But he supported me and for an engineer to stay with someone, as frustrating and painful as it can be sometimes, he supported me every day without failing,” he added.
Hamilton and Bonnington’s “Hammer-Time” is a famous expression in the paddock. It came about after the British driver asked Bono to say these words whenever he needed to drive faster.
Edited by Shirsh
