Lewis Hamilton (right) teased his race engineer Peter Bonnington about his age in Abu Dhabi (Image: SKY SPORTS)
told his race engineer Peter Bonnington that he was “ancient” after admitting he had seen a picture of the 49-year-old alongside legendary F1 star . Bonnington, who is affectionately known as Bono, is preparing to work with Hamilton for the final time before the seven-time world champion departs .
Hamilton will be eyeing up a memorable farewell performance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend ahead of his move to .
The 39-year-old has endured a difficult final season with and was unable to pick up any points in Qatar last weekend.
Hamilton appeared to be in good spirits on Friday as he spoke to Bonnington from the seat of his car. And he couldn’t resist the temptation to wind up his long-time associate.
“I saw a picture the other day of you with Schumacher,” Hamilton exclaimed. “Jeez, you’re ancient mate – you’ve been around forever.”
The engineer, to his credit, saw the funny side of the remark as he laughed it off and replied: “Thanks, it feels like it.”
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Lewis Hamilton (right) was unable to convince Peter Bonnington to join him at Ferrari (Image: GETTY)
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Bonnington began his F1 career with Jordan in 2005, before becoming a performance engineer with Honda in 2006. He continued with the team when they were bought by Ross Brawn ahead of the 2009 campaign. And he stayed on when Brawn were sold to make way for the return of in 2010.
Schumacher raced for for three seasons between 2010 and 2013, although he was unable to emulate his earlier F1 success with the Brackley-based team.
Bonnington was the German’s race engineer for 18 months and went on to team up with Hamilton when the Briton replaced Schumacher.
Bonnington and Hamilton became one of the most formidable partnerships F1 has ever seen, with the driver winning six of his seven world titles with the team.
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Hamilton reportedly fought tooth and nail to convince Bono to follow him to . But the engineer ultimately .
And remarking on the decision in the summer, Hamilton explained: “I’m genuinely so happy for Bono. Ultimately, I wanted him to do whatever was best for him. Where he is in his life, he had to make the best call for him and for his family. That doesn’t change anything between us.
“We won’t get to work next to each other every day, which will be sad for both of us. It’s going to be emotional but we’re always going to be in each other’s lives.
“Bono is my brother, I’m really happy the team is taking him on and giving him the opportunity to grow within the team because he’s such a great asset.”