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An end of an era is coming to F1
One of Formula 1’s most successful partnerships is coming to an end.
Earlier this year Lewis Hamilton announced that he was making a shocking move to Ferrari at the end of the 2024 F1 season. That move will see the seven-time F1 Drivers’ Champion depart Mercedes after winning six of those titles with the Brackley-based team.
That announcement sparked speculation regarding his race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington, and whether Hamilton’s long-time partner would follow him to Ferrari. However, any notion of such a subsequent move has now been dashed. According to multiple reports, Bonnington has accepted a new role at Mercedes, taking on the title of Head of Race Engineering with the team.
During their time together, which began back in 2013, the pair accounted for 84 race victories and those six Drivers’ titles. That makes the Hamilton-Bonnington pairing the most successful driver-engineer partnership in F1 history.
Their partnership also produced one of the more memorable lines in F1 history, the hallmark “it’s hammer time, Lewis” instruction from Bonnington. The engineer would give that order to Hamilton at the end of a stint, instructing him to give it everything he had over the next few laps.
Given Mercedes’ recent form, that number of victories could climb even higher. Hamilton, after going winless in both 2022 and 2023, has a pair of victories so far this season. While his win at the Belgian Grand Prix came due to a post-race disqualification for teammate George Russell, which saw Hamilton promoted to P1, his emotional win at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix came wholly on merit.
And is arguably the most memorable moment of the season so far.
In addition to his new role, Bonnington will continue to serve as a race engineer with Mercedes. However, it is unclear if he will work with Russell next season, or the driver who will slide into the seat Hamilton is vacating at the end of the season.
