Lewis Hamilton has lost the opportunity to take his closest Mercedes ally to Ferrari. His race engineer Peter Bonnington, whom he refers to as ‘Bono’, has been promoted to Head of Race Engineering at Mercedes by Team Principal Toto Wolff. Thus ending the rumors of him following Hamilton to Ferrari. At face value, this seems like a big blow for the 7-time champion, who has worked with Bono since stepping into Mercedes in 2013. But every cloud has a silver lining.

Ferrari has an entirely different culture from Mercedes, as Hamilton himself has acknowledged. “If you think about it, we Brits are more quiet and more calm. When you have success, when you have more difficult days, everyone’s kind of like more chilled out as well. Whereas Italians are much more emotional. It’s a much, much different culture,” he said after his historic British GP win this year. In his case, this cultural change is only exaggerated by the fact that he has only driven for British teams in his 17-year F1 career – McLaren and Mercedes.

This rings true even in Bono’s case, who has only worked for British teams in his 20-year F1 career. If he were to accompany Hamilton to Ferrari, both would feel majorly out of place and fail the new challenge. So the 7-time champion needs a race engineer who is adept at knowing Ferrari’s methods of operating.

This is where Ricciardo Adami, who was Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer and continued with Carlos Sainz when he replaced the 4-time champion, comes into the picture. Ricky, as Sainz refers to him, joined the Maranello outfit in 2015. Even though Peter Bonnington is rated as one of the best race engineers of all time, Ricky knows Ferrari better than him. Hence, he already has an edge that’ll accelerate Hamilton’s onboarding.

So, in a way, Toto Wolff promoting and retaining Bono is a boon for Lewis Hamilton. Even the supposedly negative developments seem like part of a bigger plan. Former F1 boss Eddie Jordan reckons there is nothing Mercedes can do to stop Ferrari next year.

Lewis Hamilton-led Ferrari will trump an even stronger Mercedes in 2025

In 2024, the Silver Arrows have gone from strength to strength while the Scuderia has backtracked. This displays a very ironic picture, considering Lewis Hamilton‘s choice. James Allison has turned the W15 into a victory contender, while the exit of a key technical figure in Enrico Cardile has negatively impacted Ferrari.

However, with Hamilton still performing as excellently as ever despite nearing retirement age, Eddie Jordan said on the Formula for Success podcast: “Lewis will be back at his highest level and next year, he will be back fighting for the World Championship, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong,” he said, contrary to popular belief. “Ferrari will be a great team next year and they will enjoy the presence of Lewis.”

The 76-year-old further added, saying, “He will tell them (Ferrari) to look at what Mercedes is doing, not to worry, that they can beat Russell and everyone else, and I am sure they will succeed. Though Jordan acknowledged further improvement in Mercedes’ upward performance graph, beating Ferrari was out of the question for Toto Wolff’s men. “Toto Wolff’s stable will also be strong, but I think the Prancing Horse will be even faster,” he concluded.

It is only a matter of 10 races before such comments are proven right or wrong. Will Hamilton find the right synergy at Ferrari, or will Mercedes make him regret his decision?