Bonnington gets Mercedes promotion, ending Ferrari speculation

Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington has been promoted at Mercedes, ruling out a move to join his current driver at Ferrari next season. Bonnington and Hamilton have formed a formidable partnership since the latter’s switch from McLaren in 2013, winning six drivers’ championships together as Hamilton has gone on to become the most successful driver in Formula 1 history. With Hamilton moving to Ferrari at the end of this year, Bonnington was linked with a move, although neither he nor Hamilton suggested the partnership would continue in Maranello. Mercedes has now confirmed that Bonnington has been promoted to the role of head of race engineering with immediate effect, a position that he will combine with race engineering one of the team’s two race drivers in 2025. Such a set-up is similar to the structure at Red Bull, where Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase also has the responsibility of being head of race engineering for the team. The promotion confirms Bonnington will remain with Mercedes next year and Hamilton will work with a new race engineer at Ferrari, where Carlos Sainz is currently engineered by Riccardo Adami. Mercedes has yet to confirm who will replace Hamilton and partner George Russell in 2025, with Italian youngster Andrea Kimi Antonelli believed to be under serious consideration following F1 testing appearances and an increasingly impressive Formula 2 season. Antonelli turns 18 on Sunday and could make a Friday practice appearance for Mercedes before the end of this season, with the team still needing to run a rookie in two FP1 sessions.