Peter Bonnington breaks rank over ‘complete BS’ FIA decision after Mercedes penalty
Peter Bonnington, race engineer to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, in the Mercedes garage at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix
Untelevised Mercedes team radio from the Las Vegas Grand Prix has revealed the moment Peter Bonnington described Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s five-second penalty for a false start as “complete BS.”
Bonnington is best known for being the voice in Lewis Hamilton’s ear, working as the seven-time world champion’s race engineer, throughout his spell at Mercedes between 2013 and 2024.
Peter Bonnington: Antonelli penalty ‘complete BS’ at Las Vegas Grand Prix
He was promoted to the role of head of race engineering last year following the news of Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for the F1 2025 season, with Bonnington remaining as race engineer to teenage rookie Antonelli.
Antonelli was one of the star performers of last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, recovering from 17th on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag.
A five-second penalty for a false start saw him initially drop to fifth behind Oscar Piastri before Piastri and McLaren teammate Lando Norris were disqualified for excessive skid-block wear, promoting Antonelli to third in the final classification.
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Antonelli’s recovery drive saw him pit under virtual safety car conditions on Lap 2 with the Italian managing a set of hard tyres across the final 48 laps.
Bonnington was the first to congratulate Antonelli over team radio as the youngster came home in an initial fifth place, with the race engineer branding the FIA’s decision to hand out a penalty “complete BS.”
Television replays showed Antonelli’s car moving marginally before the lights went out on Saturday night’s race.
The full exchange went as follows:
Bonnington: “Well done, mate. What a day that’s been!”
Antonelli: “Yeah, man! Oh my God! Yeah, man!”
Bonnington: “Yes, indeed. We got stiffed with that five-second penalty, but you still finished P5. Let’s pick up some rubber, mate.”
Antonelli: “It was mega.”
Bonnington: “Pace was bloody mega, mate.”
Toto Wolff: “Yeah, Kimi, the pace was from another planet. P5 from where you’ve come, that was really good.”
Bonnington: “Mate, that’s P5 after a five-second penalty, which was complete BS.”
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Speaking after the race, Wolff openly wondered what Antonelli could have achieved in Las Vegas had he started higher up the field, having finished just seven seconds behind teammate George Russell.
He said: “I think starting P17, pretty much on the defence with an aggressive stop at the beginning, I’m not sure that we thought it was realistic at the beginning.
“But then he went quicker and quicker and quicker and cleared the graining and, at the end, a super-well-deserved P5 even with the penalty.
“So I don’t know what [result] that could have been starting from a better position.”
Wolff’s comments come after Mercedes released a short clip capturing race winner Max Verstappen’s response to Antonelli’s result in parc ferme.
It shows Verstappen, the Red Bull driver and four-time world champion, expressing surprise after asking Antonelli where he finished in Vegas.