Watch: The hilarious moment when Pete Bonnington calls Kimi Antonelli 'Lewis' on the team radio

Peter Bonnington (Bono) was Lewis Hamilton's race engineer for the past 12 years and with Kimi Antonelli taking his place at the Brackley-based squad, it will take some time for both of them to get used to each other. This resulted in a slip-up by Bono, who accidentally called Antonelli as Lewis over the team radio while talking during the qualifying session.

Bono was Hamilton's longest-serving race engineer in F1 and the pair often spent time off the track with each other. They have a formidable friendship and with the seven-time champion's decision to move to Maranello realizing in 2025, his former race engineer stayed at Brackley.

While Lewis Hamilton has started settling in with his new race engineer at Maranello, Riccardo Adami, Bono seemingly cannot forget his former driver. During the Chinese GP qualifying session, Bonnington accidentally called Kimi Antonelli, "Lewis" due to his force of habit in a hilarious slip of the tongue, as he said:

"Yeah, copy that Lewis... Kimi [Antonelli]."

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Kimi Antonelli is the third driver that Bono has worked with.

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Kimi Antonelli shares his thoughts on partnering up with Peter Bonnington in his rookie F1 season

Peter Bonnington (L) and Kimi Antonelli (R) at the F1 Abu Dhabi Testing 2024 - Source: Getty

Kimi Antonelli is aware of Bono's skill as he was the extra set of eyes for Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton in the past. Moreover, the 18-year-old admitted that he has a great opportunity lying in front of him as he could tap into Bono's vast experience. He said:

"I think having someone like Bono, it's amazing. It's a very big privilege because he has worked with two of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1. He worked with Michael [Schumacher] and then he worked with Lewis [Hamilton] for many years.

"So having someone with so much knowledge and experience really helps you because obviously I have so many new scenarios that I would have to go through, so many new scenarios that I will have to face, so many new things that I will have to learn. And having someone like him that has so much experience deifinitely, its really helpful because it can really guide you in every situation and... So I feel realy lucky to have someone like him."

Kimi Antonelli qualified eighth for the Chinese Grand Prix. His final run was almost four-tenths shy of his much more senior teammate, George Russell, and is still seemingly finding his feet in the Mercedes W16.

Meanwhile, the Briton qualified on the front row alongside Oscar Piastri. Russell finished third at the Australian Grand Prix and will look to get in a statement drive at Shanghai International Circuit and pose himself as a threat in the championship standings early on.