Ferrari announced today that they will replace Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for 2026, moving Riccardo Adami to a development role within the team. After a horrendous 2025 season (relatively) for Hamilton, he needs a fresh start with an engineer who understands him, and there is no one better than Peter Bonnington.

Who is Peter Bonnington

The 50-year-old British race engineer has been in the industry for more than two decades and was famously Hamilton’s race engineer for six of Hamilton’s seven F1 Championships.

The two have an obvious rapport, and with Hamilton regularly confused by directions over the radio last season, giving him some stability on that end will go a long way to getting more out of the exceptional driver.

Is it feasible for Ferrari to get Bonnington?

The challenge, of course, will be getting Bonnington away from his current gig. One of the most decorated and skilled race engineers, Bono is highly regarded at Mercedes, serving as their Head of Trackside Performance. It’s highly unlikely that Ferrari will be able to pry him out of Toto Wolff’s hands. He also works as Kimi Antonelli, who will be unwilling to let him go as well.

However, if there is anyone who is able to make that move happen, it’s Ferrari. Not only do they have the money and legacy to tempt someone like Bono over, having already done the same to Hamilton, but there is also the opportunity to make Hamilton the winningest driver of all time and the undisputed GOAT.

Given how close we are to the start of the season, and the fact that the Italian outfit will likely want someone who speaks Italian, the odds are low of this happening, but it’s hard to rule it out definitively. It makes a lot of sense for Hamilton and Ferrari to want to keep him happy. He should be considered a frontrunner for the job until Ferrari names someone.