breaking news; Lewis Hamilton petitioned by ferrari……

The seven-time champion said Bonnington, who has been with Hamilton throughout his 12-year career at Mercedes, was “like a brother”.

But he accepted that moving to Italy was not the right choice for Bonnington – also known as ‘Bono’ – who has become well known as the voice who speaks to Hamilton during races.

“I would have love to have continued with Bono,” Hamilton said.

“We have a great relationship, but I’m really happy for him. It’s about doing whatever’s best for you.”

Bonnington has been promoted to head of race engineering. He will continue with Hamilton for the rest of this season before the Briton’s move to Maranello, and will also act as as a race engineer for one of Mercedes’ drivers next year.

George Russell’s contract continues to the end of 2025 and the Briton is expected to be joined by Mercedes’ Italian protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is racing in Formula 2 this season.

Hamilton said: “Packing up and leaving, I can only imagine it would affect both him and his partner, so he had to do whatever is right for him.

“I knew it would be an unlikely scenario he would go with me because it’s such a drastic change in his life. But I’m really happy the team have acknowledged and made changes so he can grow more.

“He will be able to show people the great things he can do. But we are going to be family forever. We have spoken about it and we just want to end on a high.”