Peter Bonnington

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Peter Bonnington
Peter Bonnington 2024.jpg
Bonnington at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix
Born (1975-02-12) 12 February 1975 (age 49)
England
Other namesBono
OccupationFormula One race engineer
Employer Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Known forFormula One engineer
TitleHead of Race Engineering

Peter Bonnington (born 12 February 1975 [lower-alpha 1] ), often known as Bono, [1] is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the senior race engineer for Lewis Hamilton at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport Formula One team. [2]

Contents

Career

Bonnington started his Formula 1 career as a data engineer with Jordan Grand Prix in 2004. [3] During his time with the Silverstone team he worked alongside the likes of Giorgio Pantano and Timo Glock. [4] 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. [5] [6]

After a stint as Michael Schumacher's performance engineer at Mercedes, he became his race engineer replacing the departing Mark Slade in September 2011. [7] After Schumacher left the Brackley team at the end of 2012, Bonnington became senior race engineer for Lewis Hamilton, a position he retains to this day.

In his current role as senior race engineer, 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. [8] [9]

Notes

  1. According to the F1 Manager 2022 game, Bonnington was 47 years old in 2022.

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References

  1. 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.
  2. "'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.
  3. "Who is Peter 'Bono' Bonnington? Hamilton's 'brotherly' race engineer". Motor Sport . 3 April 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  4. "Who is Peter 'Bono' Bonnington, the Man Behind the Success of Lewis Hamilton". Essentially Sports. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  5. "Q & A with Jenson Button". Autosport. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  6. "F1: Brawn GP team swaps cars for bikes". Brits on Pole. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  7. "Michael Schumacher gets new race engineer at Mercedes". Autosport. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  8. "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.
  9. "Lewis Hamilton: Peter Bonnington exclusive on F1 champion's qualities". Sky Sports. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2021.