MARANELLO, Italy – Lewis Hamilton is set to leave Mercedes and join rival Ferrari at the start of the 2025 season. Top drivers often bring staff from their previous teams with them, either because they request trusted colleagues or because the new team is open to bringing familiar faces to help the driver settle into the new environment.
In 1996, Michael Schumacher was followed by key team members when he moved from Benetton to Ferrari. The new team is often open to the idea of bringing familiar faces to help the driver settle into the team. In other instances, race engineer Jock Clear followed Jacques Villeneuve from Williams to BAR in 2000.
One complication is that Peter Bonnington, who has been with the Mercedes team for many years, would have to stay with Mercedes until the final race of the season in December and then transition to Ferrari at the beginning of 2025. An important figure at Ferrari includes former Mercedes performance director Loic Serra, who will be joining the team next year.
Hamilton’s special relationship with ‘Bono’, who has been with the Brackley team since the early Honda era, is uncertain as to whether he will move to Italy. Mercedes team principal Fred Vasseur will be one of the few familiar faces at Ferrari, although the team is expected to undergo a reshuffle to accommodate Bonnington if he is available to step into the race engineer job at Ferrari.