Jonathan FletcherFollowing Lewis Hamilton‘s stunning switch to Ferrari, speculation arises about his engineer, Bono, joining him. Their decade-long partnership at Mercedes has been pivotal, prompting questions about Bono’s potential move.
One of the first questions asked after Lewis Hamilton’s shocking switch from Mercedes to Ferrari in F1 is who might join him?
An obvious candidate to follow Hamilton to Maranello in 2025 is the seven-time world champion’s long-time race engineer, Peter Bonnington, nicknamed “Bono.”
Bono has been a key member of Hamilton’s inner circle, and the two have formed an apparently unbreakable bond over their ten-year collaboration at Mercedes.
As a crucial element of Hamilton’s success at Mercedes, will Bono follow Hamilton to facilitate the transition to Ferrari?
This exact question was posed to Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff when he spoke to the media this Friday.
“It’s a discussion that everyone needs to have in the coming months,” Wolff replied.
“I’ve already spoken with Bono when I broke the news of Lewis’s decision. He said, ‘Is this April 1st?’. He was as surprised as I was. In short, it’s something we’ll discuss in the future, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to follow him.”
After signing his two-year contract extension with Mercedes last summer, Hamilton declared that “Bono” would be “stuck” with him.
“Yes, Bono is stuck! I’m very lucky,” Hamilton said at the time. “Again, it’s a beautiful story. I don’t think there’s ever been a driver-engineer duo for as long. We’re setting records.”
Hamilton is expected to reunite with French engineer Loïc Serra, whom Ferrari poached from Mercedes, and Fred Vasseur, who was in charge of ART Grand Prix when the Brit won the GP2 title in 2006.
“I have no doubt that Fred will be able to maintain very good relations with Lewis as a boss, there’s no doubt about it,” Wolff added.
“They’ve known each other for over 20 years, he raced for ART, and Fred understands the racing driver’s mindset. He does things very differently from me, but his track record is very successful.”
Hamilton’s Move to Ferrari: Will Bono Follow?. Hamilton’s Move to Ferrari: Will Bono Follow?
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