Lewis Hamilton is approaching the end of a historic stint at Mercedes. Back in the winter, Ferrari announced the signing of F1’s most successful driver for the 2025 season.
Toto Wolff insists he wasn’t surprised by Hamilton’s decision in and of itself. The second year of his latest Mercedes contract was optional, after all.
But Wolff was caught off guard by the timing. And his relationship with Hamilton has apparently suffered behind the scenes since.
Hamilton has left his team principal with an ‘open wound’ by defecting to their rivals. But the 39-year-old is tired of ‘waiting for answers’ as Mercedes continue to struggle in F1’s ‘ground effect’ era.
To make matters worse for Wolff, the Englishman has already taken a couple of key figures with him. Ferrari confirmed on Monday that Loic Serra would join as head of chassis performance and engineering, while Jerome D’Ambrosio arrives as deputy team principal.
D’Ambrosio had looked like a potential successor to Wolff at Brackley. But Mercedes will now have a fresh void to fill behind the scenes in addition to a big hole in their driver line-up.
Lewis Hamilton could hurt Mercedes by bringing Peter Bonnington to Ferrari
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Marc Priestley, a former mechanic for Hamilton at McLaren, discussed the possibility of Peter Bonnington joining him at Ferrari. Bonnington is the 39-year-old’s long-time race engineer.
His future remains unclear, but Priestley feels he would be a substantial loss for Mercedes given that his importance extends beyond his relationship with Hamilton. He’s also become a prominent figure in the ‘wider engineering layout’.
From Hamilton’s perspective, though, it could make the switch to the Scuderia much smoother. He knows Bonnington inside out, and that could offer a foundation for success.
“As Lewis Hamilton moves to Ferrari later this year, [it’s] still undecided as to whether or not he will take his own engineer Pete Bonnington with him,” Priestley said. “That would be a blow for Mercedes.
“Not only is he Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, but he’s also a key member of that Mercedes team in the wider engineering layout, the landscape there. He’s a key member who would be missed if he were to leave.
“But from a relationship perspective, it’s going to be much, much easier for Lewis Hamilton to transition to Ferrari if he’s got the familiar face, if he’s got the relationship that’s already been built over years with Bono. If he can take that with him, and they can keep that going, there’s a much greater chance of success straight out the blocks.”
Mercedes have at least exacted some form of revenge with a move for Ferrari’s Enrico Sampo. Sampo will become the head of performance software applications for the Silver Arrows.
Who is Lewis Hamilton engineer Peter Bonnington?
Bonnington, who’s often known by his nickname ‘Bono’, started out in F1 as an engineer at Jordan in the early noughties. From there, he moved to Honda, where he worked under Andrew Shovlin, now Mercedes’ trackside engineering director.
He served as the performance engineer for Jenson Button in 2009 as he won the world championship with Brawn. Mercedes then acquired the team ahead of their return to the sport in 2010.
Bonnington would work with Michael Schumacher, F1’s only other seven-time title-winner, during his three-year comeback. He then took up the role as Hamilton’s engineer upon the Briton’s arrival in 2013.
They have struck up one of the most successful relationships in the sport’s history across the last decade or so. The 49-year-old has become known for catchphrases like ‘it’s hammer time’ and ‘get in there Lewis’, and perhaps he’ll soon be delivering those messages in red.
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