Peter Bonnington is rumored to make a move to Ferrari and follow Lewis Hamilton. After all, what will we do with Hamilton’s iconic radios with his engineer, –“Bono my tires are gone” or Bono saying, “Lewis, it’s hammer time”? But this time around during the Chinese GP sprint, things got heated between Hamilton and Bono. And just minutes before this exchange, Bono had revealed the struggles at the Chinese GP.

Once Max Verstappen got past Fernando Alonso and started chasing Lewis Hamilton for the lead, we expected a showdown between the 2021 championship rivals. Alas, Lewis Hamilton made a mistake in the final part of the lap and Max Verstappen passed the 7X champ, making it look as easy as taking candy away from a child. But just moments before the overtake, there was a heated exchange between Hamilton and Bono. 

Lewis Hamilton was informed of Max Verstappen overtaking Alonso and being behind him. The Brit then complained of his Mercedes being a boat in the slow corners. As Bono informed Hamilton of Verstappen being behind him, he radioed, “So Verstappen car behind 41.1” to which Hamilton, who was struggling with the car, replied, “Leave me to it man. I can see him.”

It seems as if Peter Bonnington saw these struggles coming for Mercedes as he talked about the uncertainties regarding how the track would fare in the race just before the sprint started. Bono said, “I think it’s going to be a bit of a struggle figuring out where this track is going to go, and knowing where the balance is going to go from front to rear. It can go anywhere with an increase or decrease of track Temps”

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton expected Chinese GP qualifying to be hard on Mercedes but yet was grateful for the Sprint Race podium. Let’s see what his expectations are from the Chinese GP qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton thinks “Qualifying this afternoon will likely be a lot harder”

Lewis Hamilton started the Chinese GP sprint in P2, courtesy of the rain yesterday during the Sprint qualifying. Lando Norris’ mistake going into Turn 1 helped him easily take the lead of the race and finish in P2. However, Fernando Alonso held the faster cars behind him and helped Hamilton with the podium. Hamilton’s P2 finish isn’t reflective of Mercedes’ pace. Therefore, Hamilton expects a struggle in Qualifying. 

Lewis Hamilton, during the post-Sprint Race interview, said, “To be sat on the front-row was a great feeling and reminded me what that feels like. Racing into turn one and taking the lead also reminded me of what I love so much about this sport! It was a very challenging race but to get second was great.” Talking about the upcoming qualifying session, he added, “Qualifying this afternoon will likely be a lot harder as the other cars are very quick in the dry. We can make some changes though before then so hopefully we can start higher up the grid than we have recently.”

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