Peter Bonnington Felt “A Rockstar Was Walking In” When He First Met Lewis Hamilton


Credits: IMAGO / Every Second Media

Lewis Hamilton and his beloved race engineer Peter Bonnington will end their legendary partnership after this season ends. While the British driver will move to Ferrari next year, Bonnington will stay at Mercedes and will reportedly also receive a promotion. Over these years, Hamilton and Bonnington formed a fantastic relationship and the latter knew what to expect from the moment he first saw the British driver enter the Mercedes camp.

Speaking of the same, Bonnington said back in November 2020, “Felt like he [Hamilton] was a rockstar walking in. I mean just looking back at the pictures, you’re like this is Lewis. Wow”.

Bonnington then added how he knew that he had his work cut out for him from the day he met Hamilton. And considering how much the two have won together, it’s fair to say that Bonnington was up to the task.

Bonnington has been Hamilton’s race engineer during all the six championships the British driver won with Mercedes. Unfortunately for them, that historic run will come to an end after the 2024 campaign. But for Bonnington, it also means the start of a fresh challenge from 2025.

Bonnington will coach Andrea Kimi Antonelli next

According to the various reports circulating recently, Kimi Antonelli has already unofficially signed a deal with Mercedes for the 2025 campaign and beyond. Since the Italian will make his F1 debut next season, the Silver Arrows have reportedly instructed Bonnington to mentor him.

Veteran F1 reporter Craig Slater too stated that Bonnington has the “perfect” experience to coach someone like Kimi Antonelli. “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”, said Slater.

With Bonnington set to stay at Mercedes, Hamilton will have a new race engineer from 2025 onwards. As per reports, Carlos Sainz’s current race engineer Riccardo Adami will be Hamilton’s new race engineer. Adami is an experienced individual as he also served as Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer during the German’s time at Ferrari.