Lewis Hamilton’s racing engineer, Peter Bonnington, decided to surprise him before his move to Ferrari. Bonnington, popularly known as Bono, made a stunning appearance in Tommy Hilfiger’s Hamilton suit, and the seven-time world champion was taken aback by the sight.
Hamilton raced his last race with Mercedes at the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. By parting ways with the Silver Arrows, he is also cutting working ties with Bonnington, with whom he worked for nearly a decade.
Before Hamilton’s final move to Maranello, Bonnington donned the seven-time world champion’s Tommy Hilfiger suit on his appearances in the paddock. Upon seeing ‘Bono’ in the sky blue denim suit, Hamilton expressed his surprise.
The Mercedes driver uploaded a series of photos with his race engineer on his Instagram account, with the caption:
“Two legends. Bono and Tommy.”
Hamilton is set to move to Ferrari next season after the British driver signed a multi-year deal with the Prancing Horse earlier this year. Despite having a one-year contract with him, he chose to race with 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 achieved 84 victories, 78 pole positions and 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 Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc. He will replace Carlos Sainz, who moved to Williams.
Lewis Hamilton spoke about his relationship with Peter Bonnington
Before his time at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton spoke about how close he was to Peter Bonnington, his race engineer. The duo started working together in 2013 and have been at it until the end of 2024.
“What a rollercoaster 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 was by my side and for an engineer to stay with someone no matter how frustrating and painful it can sometimes be, he was by my side every day without fail,” he added.
Hamilton and Bonnington’s ‘Hammer-Time’ is a well-known phrase in the paddock. It came about after the British driver once asked Bono to say these words every time he needed to drive faster.
Edited by Shirsh