Mercedes

Mercedes left red faced after Lewis Hamilton blunder

Sam Cook Sunday 23 March 2025 10:57

Mercedes left red faced after Lewis Hamilton blunder

Lewis Hamilton's former F1 race engineer at Mercedes, Peter 'Bono' Bonnington, made an unfortunate error during the Chinese Grand Prix.

Bonnington is now working as a race engineer for 18-year-old teen sensation Kimi Antonelli, who replaced Hamilton after the seven-time champion opted to join Ferrari for 2025.

During qualifying for the Chinese GP, Bonnington mistook the new Mercedes driver for the old one, responding 'copy that Lewis' to the Italian over the radio, before correcting himself in an awkward mishap.

Bonnington worked with Hamilton for 12 seasons, with the pair winning six world championship titles and 84 grands prix together.

Bonnington missing Hamilton

Hamilton had a close relationship with 'Bono' - highlighted by the celebrations the pair shared after Hamilton won the 2024 British GP, his first win for almost three years.

Bonnington was emotional after that particular race, and joined Hamilton on the podium to celebrate the joyous moment in Hamilton's final season with the team.

Mercedes and Hamilton are onto pastures new now, with Antonelli impressing on both of his first two race weekends as a rookie with the team.

Antonelli finished fourth in Australia, having started down in 16th, and was close to a podium on his F1 debut.

His early performances have helped to fill the huge hole left by the seven-time champion's departure from the team.

F1 Results Today: Lando Norris beaten as FIA issue late penalty at Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Ferrari Chinese Grand Prix Kimi Antonelli

Latest News

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton admits key mistake over Ferrari disqualification

3 minutes ago

F1 Today

F1 News Today: Red Bull statement delivered on Lawson as Vettel handed F1 boost

29 minutes ago

Williams

Carlos Sainz baffled by Williams F1 change

1 hour ago

Latest F1 News

Ferrari enter talks with F1 over Hamilton-Leclerc controversy

2 hours ago

F1 News & Gossip

Red Bull ‘plan to sign’ Colapinto

2 hours ago

Ferrari

Vettel blames Hamilton for Ferrari failure

3 hours ago

More news

F1 Race Calendar 2025

GP AUSTRALIA 14 - 14 Mar

GP BAHRAIN 11 - 11 Apr

GP SAUDI ARABIA 18 - 18 Apr

GP USA 2 - 2 May

GP ITALY 16 - 16 May

GP MONACO 23 - 23 May

Complete kalender 2025

F1 News 24/7

Races

About GPFans

GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.

We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.

With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.

Follow us on your favorite social media channel

Corporate & Media

Innovatieweg 20C
7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860

CHOOSE YOUR COUNTRY