Across a race weekend, physiotherapist Angela Cullen is a near-constant presence at the side of her charge Lewis Hamilton – a fact which has even earned her cult status among some F1 fans. And standing on the brink of his seventh championship, Hamilton has hailed the relationship the pair enjoy as “the greatest partnership”.
New Zealand-born Cullen – who like many performance coaches working in F1 is part of the Hintsa Performance company, started by legendary fitness guru Dr Aki Hintsa – began working with Hamilton at the start of the 2016 season, with the six-time champion praising the positive impact Cullen had had on his performances.
Angela Cullen is the sweetest person ever 💜 pic.twitter.com/UifKBmDJuB
— iesh🍒 (@brocedes) October 8, 2021
“People for sure won’t understand it, naturally, because they see it from a distance, but she has been one of the greatest things that’s happened to me in my life,” said Hamilton. “I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of people… and she’s the single hardest-working woman that I get to be around. “She’s focused, selfless, and she makes my weekends peaceful,” Hamilton added.
“Every day I wake up, whatever time it is, she’s just positive – never a single day has she been negative, so that’s very, very important. “I think it’s important in life to put positive people around you. You can’t be going around with deadweights, you can’t be going around with people who don’t inspire you to be better and lift you up when you’re down. You need to be around people who can do that for you, and she’s one of them.”
