Lewis Hamilton race engineer at Ferrari suggested after Peter Bonnington news

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Lewis Hamilton is set to make the move to Ferrari in 2025 and there are already questions over a vital part of his team.

The seven-time world champion has worked alongside engineer Peter Bonnington for the last 12 years, and has been a key part of his inner success team that enabled him to win six World Championships and claim 84 Grand Prix victories.

Mercedes recently announced that Bonnington signed a contract extension which will see him promoted to head of race engineering, meaning he will not make the switch to Ferrari alongside Lewis Hamilton.

While Hamilton wanted to bring Bonnington – or ‘Bono’ as he is known – to Ferrari, he reportedly has a ‘non-poaching’ clause in his Mercedes contract.

This means there is limited options over who could engineer Hamilton, but journalist Lawrence Edmundson has an idea of who it will likely be at Ferrari when speaking on the Unlapped podcast.

Lewis Hamilton set for engineer change at Ferrari

Bonnington is reportedly staying with Mercedes after seeing 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli in action during his private testing programme for the team.

The engineer was ‘extremely impressed’ by what he saw in Antonelli is now in ‘pole position’ to serve as his race engineer.

Now that Hamilton will have a new race engineer at Ferrari, Edmundson believes the role could go to another member of the current Ferrari team.

“We don’t yet know who Ferrari will use to engineer Lewis. Sainz’s engineer at the moment is Riccardo Adami, but I’m not sure what the situation will be. I imagine he’ll probably stay on in that role,” said Edmundson.

The importance of F1 engineers

Engineers in Formula 1 have an important role as they help set up the car to suit a driver and provide them with key information during the races.

As evidenced by the team radio messages between Lando Norris and engineer Will Joseph at this years British GP, clear communication channels are vital to ensure success on track.

READ MORE: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

One report claims that Hamilton called Sebastian Vettel to ask about Adami, having worked previously with his former title rival while he was at Ferrari.

Hamilton has also held talks with Charles Leclerc over what he can expect at the team in 2025, in a move that he hopes will enable him to win an eighth world championship.