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Peter Bonnington

Peter Bonnington
Bonnington at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix
Born12 February 1975 [1]
England
Other namesBono
OccupationFormula One race engineer
Years active21
Employer(s)Jordan Grand Prix, Honda, Brawn GP, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team,
Known forFormula One engineer
TitleHead of Race Engineering

Peter Bonnington, also known as Bono,[2] (born 12 February 1975) is a British Formula One engineer who works for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula One team. Well-known for his time as Lewis Hamilton's senior race engineer, he is also the Head of Trackside Performance.[3]

Career

[edit]

Bonnington started his Formula 1 career as a data engineer with Jordan Grand Prix in 2004.[4] During his time with the Silverstone team he worked alongside the likes of Giorgio Pantano and Timo Glock.[5] He then joined the Honda team as an understudy to long time race engineer Andrew Shovlin and therefore became Jenson Button’s performance engineer. Bonnington remained with the team as it transitioned into Brawn GP, guiding Button to his maiden World Championship in 2009.[6][7]

After a stint as Michael Schumacher's performance engineer at Mercedes, he became his race engineer replacing the departing Mark Slade in September 2011.[8] After Schumacher left the Brackley team at the end of 2012, Bonnington became senior race engineer for Lewis Hamilton, a position he remained in until Hamilton left the Mercedes team at the end of the 2024 championship. However, Bonnington did not participate in 2019 Mexican Grand Prix and is not in the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix and her place as Hamilton's race engineer was taken by Marcus Dudley.[9] He is now race engineer for rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.[10]

In his current role as Head of Trackside Performance,[11] he is responsible for all trackside communications to the driver and the set up of the Formula One car. During his time in this position, he has engineered Hamilton to six of his seven world championships and is widely regarded as being one of the most skilled race engineers in Formula One.[12][2]

References

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  1. ^ Benson, Andrew (21 August 2024). "Lewis Hamilton: Long-time race engineer Peter Bonnington not joining Ferrari". Retrieved 11 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b Galloway, James (18 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton: Peter Bonnington exclusive on F1 champion's qualities". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  3. ^ "'It's the thing that people don't see' – Pete Bonnington on how 'rock star' Hamilton keeps improving". Formula1.com. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Who is Peter 'Bono' Bonnington? Hamilton's 'brotherly' race engineer". Motor Sport. 3 April 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Who is Peter 'Bono' Bonnington, the Man Behind the Success of Lewis Hamilton". Essentially Sports. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Q & A with Jenson Button". Autosport. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  7. ^ "F1: Brawn GP team swaps cars for bikes". Brits on Pole. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Michael Schumacher gets new race engineer at Mercedes". Autosport. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  9. ^ "F1 race engineers: Who works with each driver and what is their role?". Autosport.com. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  10. ^ "'I feel really lucky' – Antonelli expands on what it's like working with race engineer 'Bono' | Formula 1®". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  11. ^ "EXPLAINED! Why Mercedes engineer 'Bono' will not join Hamilton at Ferrari ❌". YouTube. 21 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Peter Bonnington: Lewis Hamilton's race engineer, the architect of Mercedes legend's decorated success". The Sports Rush. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
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