‘Love to take him’… Lewis Hamilton’s camp still unsure if key Mercedes ally will move to Ferrari

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There was a point at the start of the season when Lewis Hamilton would have been counting down the days until he was going to leave Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton announced ahead of the start of the 2024 F1 season that he would be leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari next year.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 move to Ferrari

At the start of the campaign, Mercedes were the fourth-fastest team on the grid with Ferrari looking like the closest competitor to Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz – the man Hamilton is replacing next year – won in Australia and for a while Charles Leclerc was Max Verstappen’s closest competitor in the Drivers’ Championship.

However, in recent races, Ferrari have fallen away due to a botched upgrade package and Mercedes are suddenly competitive.

Hamilton finally ended his long wait for an F1 race victory at Silverstone and will fancy his chances at the next race in Hungary due to his phenomenal record at the track.

Speaking on the Inside The Piranha Club Podcast, journalists Ben Hunt and Rebecca Clancy were talking about Hamilton’s upcoming move to Ferrari.

There are people at Mercedes that Hamilton has worked with for a decade and have been crucial to his success in F1.

One of those people is his race engineer Peter Bonnington – also known as Bono – however, it’s yet to be seen whether he’ll be moving across to Ferrari with Hamilton.

There could be a clause in the seven-time world champion’s contract that makes the move difficult.

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

Lewis Hamilton’s camp doesn’t know if Peter Bonnington will be heading to Ferrari

Talking about how Mercedes performed at Silverstone, Hunt said: “I think what we saw from Mercedes was a very assured performance all round.

“And I think that’s the driver, I think race engineer Pete Bonnington as well, very calm, very direct with his message to Lewis [Hamilton].”

Clancy replied: “So much trust between driver and engineer.”

Hunt added: “It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Mercedes and Lewis’s move to Ferrari.

“I don’t know whether Bono goes.”

Clancy said: “I don’t think he’s allowed to go, is he? Isn’t there like an anti-poach clause in Hamilton’s contract?”

Hunt concluded: “I’m not too sure, I was asking the last couple of races to find out and the people close to Lewis don’t know yet.

“So, I think it’s one of those things where we’ll have to wait and see.

“I’m sure he’d love to take him with him because that bond between the two is solid and it was part and parcel, you can see the emotion of Lewis but you could also hear the emotion of Bono.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Peter Bonnington could be the key to Lewis Hamilton succeeding at Ferrari

When Hamilton heads to Ferrari, it’s going to be a complete culture shock compared to his time at McLaren and Mercedes.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone, his father Anthony suggested that they were both trying to learn Italian before his switch next year.

However, if Hamilton had Bonnington by his side then it would help him settle in faster and hit the ground running.

The pair were both emotional after his win at the British Grand Prix – although Karun Chandhok was annoyed by the intrusiveness of the media during his celebrations – and have an exceptional bond.

Mercedes will want to do everything possible to avoid strengthening one of their rivals after already losing Hamilton for 2025.

Bonnington’s experience may also be invaluable to Mercedes if they promote Kimi Antonelli for his debut F1 season next year.