The ‘Italian Bono’ fuelling Hamilton’s renaissance

Lewis Hamilton thinks he has found his “Italian Bono” in race engineer Carlo Santi, as he pinpointed a backroom shake-up as a key factor that has lifted his performance in Formula 1 this year.Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington was Hamilton’s engineer throughout the latter’s Mercedes stint, ending when Hamilton left Mercedes to join Ferrari for 2025.Hamilton had a challenging maiden campaign for Ferrari last year, and there were some obvious moments – including the Monaco Grand Prix – where there seemed to be some tension between him and the pit wall.But after a number of changes over the winter, which included a change of race engineer from Riccardo Adami to Santi (below), there has been a notable improvement that has helped Hamilton to secure two podiums so far in 2026, in China and Canad …