SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, (THEWILL) – British race driver Lewis Hamilton will become arguably the most successful Formula 1 driver ever by the end of the season. The Brit never hesitates to publically give credits to the team working behind wheels for him.
In his latest interaction, he has credited his performance coach New Zealander Angela Cullen, who is often seen around Hamilton before and after races. She is responsible for the overall fitness of the driver, usually assisting to enhance his performance on the track.
“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,” Hamilton admitted.
“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.”
The 35-year old record-breaking driver went on to reveal that the added advantage of having Cullen is that she plays a different role from usual F1 trainers in that her involvement with his fitness has helped him overcome niggling injuries.
“When you come into Formula 1, there’s this whole idea of physios, but a lot of them, or some of them, are just trainers,” said Hamilton. “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.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
