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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff reveals he had to instruct Kimi Antonelli’s race engineer Peter Bonnington – Bono to “calm him down”.
At the Chinese Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli became a Formula 1 race winner. The young Italian dominated the race from the moment he passed Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to take the lead on lap 2, and his win was never in jeopardy.
However, when asked if he was nervous in the final laps of the race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed he had to instruct Kimi’s race engineer Peter Bonnington – Bono to tell him to slow down.
“Not really [I wasn’t nervous], to be honest,” Wolff told the media.
“When there is a groove, and the systems look well, at the end, it was okay. Kimi can’t help himself, another fastest lap, another fastest lap…
“And we know the pattern from Monza with his FP1 crash [in 2024 on his F1 debut].
“So I said to Bono to ‘calm him down’. He said: ‘No, I think he is in a groove, and we don’t want him to lose this race.’
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“[Antonelli] missed the breaking point, and I said: ‘Well, okay, now will you calm him down?’”
Toto then reflected on Bono’s podium reunion with his former driver Lewis Hamilton, who finished the race in P3.
“There are a few moments which are perfect in Formula 1, and I had one in 2014, and [this podium] was maybe the second one.
“Kimi winning his first grand prix, doing a one-two with George, and Lewis third, with Bono right in the middle of them…
“[Bono] was with Lewis for so many years and has been part of Kimi’s success and growing and developing him.
“These three spraying champagne on each other on the podium, with Lewis having beaten Charles Leclerc, so he is in a good mood, I mean, this was just great to see,” the Austrian concluded.
