Seven-time champion F1 Lewis Hamilton has spoken about his long-standing relationship with his engineer, Peter Bonnington (‘Bono’), and that he has been an “integral” part in his success.
The Mercedes driver spoke about his engineer after the teams chief strategist James Vowles announced he was moving to Williams as the new team principal in February.
As quoted by Crash.net, Hamilton talked about ‘Bono’ ahead of their eleventh consecutive season together. Hey explained:
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“I’m incredibly grateful for Bono. I’ve had an amazing journey with him, I think we’ve got one of the longest, if not the longest standing driver-engineer partnerships that there’s been, and he’s been hugely integral to my success.
“We’ve had an amazing journey together, we’ve supported each other on and off-track, through good and bad times, and I love working with Bono; he’s like a brother to me, a brother from another mother.
“I think he’s probably one of the few people that can truly stand me, I would say, on the good and bad days – except for Roscoe [Hamilton’s dog]!
“How calm he’s able to be throughout a race, and how he’s able to help guide and help me navigate through a race. I don’t think there’s many people that can do that.”
Fans will usually hear ‘Bono’ say to Hamilton over the radio “It’s Hammer Time!” when the driver needs to push on. Talking about the phrase, Hamilton added:
“I think I came up with Hammer Time!
“I think because there was a point where he was like, ‘Now it’s time to push’, and I got frustrated with it because I’m like: ‘Dude I’m already pushing!’
“But I was like, if you’re trying to signify ‘now’s the time to go all out, use everything you have’, just tell me it’s ‘Hammer time’. That was part of the growth we had.”
During their partnership, the duo have won eight constructors’ championships and six drivers’ championships.
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