Peter Bonnington and Lewis Hamilton formed the most successful driver/engineer partnership in the history of Formula 1. Over the course of 12 seasons at Mercedes, they won six world championships and 84 races.
Bonnington and Hamilton showed the strength of their bond when they celebrated his penultimate win in Mercedes colours at the British GP last summer. The home hero said ‘I love you Bono’ in an emotional team radio message after taking the chequered flag.
It was their last opportunity to celebrate together on the podium. The victory took on an added meaning not just because Hamilton hadn’t won for two and a half years, but because he was about to leave for Ferrari.
After his farewell race in Abu Dhabi, Bonnington told Hamilton that it had been ‘a pleasure all the way’. The driver replied that ‘the pleasure has been mine’.
There were initially murmurs that the long-serving engineer would follow Hamilton to Ferrari, but Toto Wolff locked him down to a new contract and promoted him to a more senior role. He’s now working with Kimi Antonelli, the third-youngest driver in F1 history.
Kimi Antonelli reveals affectionate relationship with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes
The contrast between Hamilton and Antonelli, in a sporting sense, could not be bigger. One is the most decorated racer F1 has ever seen, while the other was an emerging diamond who had to be polished.
But that wasn’t the only difference between them. Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Antonelli revealed that he was far more affectionate than Bonnington was ‘used to’. It initially made the 50-year-old ‘a bit tense’.
But Antonelli has now seen a change in his demeanour. He’s ‘opening up’ after taking on his first new assignment since Michael Schumacher’s 2012 retirement.
“Very nice,” Antonelli said when asked about the relationship. “At the beginning I saw him a bit tense because I’m a very physical guy, I like to hug people, touch them, and “Bono” wasn’t used to it, he’s more “British”.
“Now that he’s opening up I’m very happy when he comes to hug me”.
What ‘Bono’ has said about the main difference between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli
Bonnington and Antonelli achieved the first major feat of their partnership in Miami last time out. The Italian became the youngest F1 pole-sitter ever for the Sprint race.
Hamilton congratulated Antonelli on his achievement and said he was delighted for his old colleague ‘Bono’. While the youngster slipped to seventh in the Sprint itself, there’s no indication that this will be an anomaly.
Bonnington has the opportunity to ‘mould’ Antonelli after supporting the ‘greatest of all time’. He’s already impressed by the F2 graduate’s ‘exceptional’ feedback.
It was reported last year that Bonnington was taken aback by Antonelli in private testing. In that moment, any doubts about staying at Brackley for the new chapter were extinguished.
