Lewis Hamilton splits with long-term sidekick Angela Cullen

Lewis Hamilton has parted ways with his long-term trainer Angela Cullen. The Mercedes star posted a heartfelt message to his colleague on social media ahead of practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The pair have worked together for seven years and was by Hamilton’s side on race weekends through much of his championship success at Mercedes.

Hamilton stressed she was leaving her role to go and “pursue her dreams” but no further details have been revealed. Hamilton posted on Instagram: “For the last seven years @cullen_angela has been by my side, pushing me to be the best version of myself.

“I am a stronger athlete and a better person because of her. So today I hope you’ll join me in wishing her the very best as she takes her next steps to pursue her dreams. Thank you for everything Ang, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you.”

Hamilton has previously described his and Cullen’s relationship as “incredibly close” with the pair “pretty much living together”.

Hamilton and Cullen regularly train outside of F1 weekends with the 48-year-old spotted by the seven-time champion’s side during a range of his off-track activities. Cullen partnered with Hamilton back in 2016 and has regularly praised her hard work as a trainer and mother of two.

He explained meeting Cullen was “one of the greatest things that’s happened” in his life and revealed her positivity was one of her best assets. The British F1 icon asked Cullen to join him on the road after struggling with his previous physio.The 38-year-old admitted he was suffering “different problems” and pains which prompted the change in personnel.

Back in 2020, he said: “When you come into Formula One, there’s this whole idea of physios, but a lot of them, or some of them, are just trainers.

“They still take on the title of ‘physio’ – but a physio is a physiotherapist, and for years, I’d always had a male trainer, but I noticed that I was always having different problems. I’d have, like, muscle tightness in my neck, or I’d have problems with my lower back, or glute, whatever it might be, and my trainer could never fix it.

“So you’d have to just deal with it through the weekend and I was like, ‘This doesn’t make sense. I don’t need to train on the weekends.’ So I was like, ‘I need to find a physio.’

“Angela had done a bit of work on me back home, so I spoke to her and asked her, ‘Would you like to come on the road with me?’ and little did I know that we would have the greatest partnership.”