“Okay Lewis, it’s Hammertime” is the most dreaded radio call in Formula 1 history. To a fan’s delight and a rival’s displeasure, Peter Bonnington often came on the radio to ask Lewis Hamilton to go full throttle. But who is Peter Bonnington? He is Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer at Mercedes. But this one-liner of a description is not even scratching the surface about the Britton, who proved to be the backbone of Formula One history’s most successful partnership. As Bono gears up to bid farewell to Lewis, we need to understand why this is the most special relationship and why it is so hard to bid him goodbye.

Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes race engineer, Pete Bonnington, has been promoted to head of race engineering and will stay with the Formula 1 team in 2025. In the new role, Bonnington will dovetail his new role with his existing race engineering duties for Hamilton until the end of the season. A Mercedes spokesperson has confirmed the 49-year-old will then stay with the team in 2025 as Hamilton departs for Ferrari. Additionally, he will become the race engineer for one of Mercedes’ two drivers next year. This means the end of the most iconic engineer-driver partnership of all time.

“You can’t tell my story without including Bono’s hard work”: Lewis Hamilton credits Peter Bonnington’s presence as an integral part of his success

Pete Bonnington became Hamilton’s race engineer in 2013 (the relationship is in its 11th year now). This happened when the then-1x champion joined Mercedes in place of Michael Schumacher at the Silver Arrows. Hamilton and Bonnington went on to forge the most iconic partnership of F1, with Bonnington in Hamilton’s corner throughout his six world championships with the Brackley-based outfit. Rumors of Bono’s exit from Mercedes began doing the rounds when the 7x champ announced his shock move to Mercedes. But after the confirmation of Bono’s stay at Brackley, one can only say that Lewis’ story cannot be written without him.

Talking about his relationship with Bono during a fan interaction event at Miami GP, Lewis had said, “Bono and I, we’ve been through thick and thin together, and I love the guy—He stood by me through thick and thin and vice versa, he’s been through some difficult times in his life.”

To add to that, he had aptly summed up their relationship in an emotional post after his 104th win (which took a 945-day toil) Hamilton had paid tribute to Bono in an Instagram post, writing, “You can’t tell my story without including Bono’s hard work and all the hours he’s put in. There are days when I need him to lift me up. There are days when I need to lift him up. During good times and bad, he’s there for me. Our communication, what you hear on the radio and what you don’t hear in the garage, in engineering, and behind the scenes, makes a big difference. He is crucial to not only my success but the entire team’s. Forever grateful for my guy Bono, blessed to have him by my side.” And we were blessed to witness this symphony.

The “symbiotic” relationship of Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington that stood the test of time

From encouraging Lewis to win a race on three tires at Silverstone in 2020 to talking him through when he stormed through the field from last to first in Brazil in 2021, His most trusted ally, Bono, has overseen every historic or record-shattering move in Lewis’ Mercedes collaboration. A driver’s relationship with his race engineer translates on the track like poetry. One good example is Max Verstappen’s relationship with his race engineer, GP. But coming back to Lewis and Bono.

Their solid and equation-filled trust has been described as that of a naturally occurring process of symbiosis. While winning was filled with adrenaline and an easier spell (comparatively), the duo lost together in grace. This is why he was the one Hamilton chose to take to the podium when the Britton won his 104th race after a 945-day wait.

After the seven-time champion joined the Brackley outfit, he and Bono formed a formidable relationship. According to Jennie Gow, host of the F1 Chequered Flag podcast, they’ve been the trailblazers of a symbiotic relationship between the driver and the engineer. Discussing the importance of that trust between a driver and their engineer, Gow said, “You’ve heard it plenty of times with Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington, who is his race engineer. That reliance to have faith in your race engineer but also to take the calls you don’t support fully when you’re a driver, it’s a very symbiotic relationship.”

While there will always be more to say about the contribution Bono has made to Lewis’ career and, in turn, the sport of Formula 1, all we can say right now is thanks. Thank you, Bono, for all those beautiful moments that redefined the history of F1.