Ex-Ferrari Engineer claims Lewis Hamilton avoided ‘dangerous game’ by not bringing Bono to Maranello in 2025
Rob Smedley believed that Lewis Hamilton dodged a bullet after not taking Bono with him to Ferrari for the coming season.
Lewis Hamilton and Peter 'Bono' Bonnington (via barousvillage.com)
Lewis Hamilton’s shock switch to Ferrari by the 2025 season had raised a lot of questions surrounding the move. Multiple individuals believed that the Briton would take his long-time race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington with him to the Italian constructor. However, such won’t be the case as Bono was promoted through the ranks at Mercedes and isn’t going to leave the team anytime soon.
Hence, Ex-Ferrari Engineer Rob Smedley has pointed out the positives of Lewis Hamilton not taking Bono with him to Ferrari. Smedley believed that when a seven-time world champion chose a team, he needn’t bring an entourage with him. This meant that Bono wasn’t crucial to Hamilton’s move to Maranello by the coming season.
A driver like Lewis chooses your team. When a seven-times World Champion chooses your team to come and work at your team, I don’t think he needs to bring like an entourage with him.
Rob Smedley said on the Formula For Success podcast
The reason for this was deeper than one could imagine. Smedley reckoned that the race engineer following the drivers was a ‘dangerous game’. Bono would face a dire consequence after Hamilton decided to leave the constructor and leave his race engineer hanging. Hence, Smedley labeled that the 39-year-old did the ‘right thing’ by not forcing such a move.
I think that’s quite a dangerous game to play to kind of follow the driver around. Because if the driver falls out of favour or the driver decides that after one year this is not for him, you know, he can’t take the entourage with him. So I think that Lewis has done the right thing.
Rod Smedley added
The Maranello-based Ferrari will fully ’embrace’ Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton would have to learn Ferrari’s working with the new race engineer and would also have to learn Italian. Regardless, Rob Smedley believed that the Briton wouldn’t face many issues accustoming to the team. The reason for this was that Ferrari would ’embrace’ the seven-time world champion and get around the driver solely due to his records.
I think that the team will embrace him, I think that if you go there with a bit of a reputation like what Lewis has got for being able to deliver, the team will get around him. The team will definitely get around him.
Rod Smedley noted
The 2025 season would be extremely interesting after witnessing the multiple changes to driver personnel. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton would form a formidable pair and take the team to greater heights. Hence, time will tell about how the Briton fares at the Italian constructor in the coming season.
Aditya Pandya
(1099 Articles Published)