Peter Bonnington made a funny error during qualifying ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, accidentally addressing Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton on the radio. The Mercedes race engineer worked with the seven-time world champion for 12 years before his Ferrari switch over the winter. Bonnington is now working with rookie Antonelli as the 18-year-old navigates a baptism of fire in F1, partnering with George Russell to fill Hamilton’s boots in one of the sport’s biggest teams.
During footage captured from Antonelli’s cockpit during qualifying, Bonnington jumped onto the radio to reply to the Italian teenager’s comments. Slipping up, he replied: “Yeah. Copy that, Lewis,” before then correcting himself. Both Antonelli and Hamilton are forging new relationships with their race engineers after major changes in the off-season. The seven-time world champion is working with Riccardo Adami, who previously teamed up with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz during their time with Ferrari.
Hamilton expressed intense frustration when asked about the new partnership in Shanghai. Pundits micro-analysed the 40-year-old’s radio snippets with Adami after the Ferrari star expressed a desire for fewer messages in Melbourne.
“Everyone over-egged [the situation in Australia],” Hamilton complained in China. “It was literally just a back-and-forth. I was very polite in how I suggested it. I said, ‘Leave it to me, please’. I wasn’t saying ‘eff you.’ I wasn’t swearing.
“It was just at that point I was really struggling with the car and I needed full focus on a couple of things. We’re getting to know each other. He had two champions or more in the past and there are no issues between us. Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers – it’s far worse.
“The conversations that Max has had with his engineer over the years and the abuse that the poor guy has taken, and you never write about it, but you write about the smallest little discussion I have with mine. We’re literally just getting to know each other.
“Afterwards, I’m like: ‘Hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information. But if you want to give me this, this is the place I like to do it. This is how I’m feeling in the car, and at these points, this is what this is, when I do and don’t need the information.’ That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, and it’s done with a smiley face, and we move forward.”
Hamilton and Adami enjoyed the perfect moment to crown their new partnership on Saturday. The 40-year-old fended off Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen to win the sprint race in commanding fashion, capping his first victory in Ferrari overalls.