As if the weight of the world was not already weighing on Lewis Hamilton’s shoulders, last year the ex Formula One champ announced he was parting company with his long time trainer a friend, New Zealander Angela Cullen. The split appeared to be rather sudden as Cullen had been attendance for Hamilton at pre-season testing and the opening Grand Prix of the year in Bahrain.

Both claimed the parting of the ways was amicable with Lewis claiming the pair still text each day and that she is “one of my closest friends” and that “I am a stronger athlete and a better person because of her.” The impact of this news was outlined by Hamilton’s former team mate Nico Rosberg, who speaking to Sky F1 claimed: “I think that probably makes things even worse because even though the split apparently was amicable, you know, Angela was a real friend I think also to him.”

 

 

 

Hamilton persuaded by Cullen over F1 return

Hamilton was left reeling following the last race, last lap defeat in the 2021 drivers’ title and went ‘dark’ on social media for several weeks. It is thought Cullen was his key ally in persuading him to remain in the sport when Mercedes team boss revealed the real possibility Lewis would quit the sport.

Having taken a year out regularly posting pictures of herself online taking part in extreme sports, Cullen returned home to her native New Zealand where a new partnership was formed with countryman and racer, Marcus Armstrong. His first major success in European Formula racing was his title winning year competing in the Italian Formula 4 competition.

Marcus then graduated through the international FIA F3 and F2 racing, coming second in his maiden F2 season and then competing between 2020-2022 in Formula 2. The young Kiwi never repeated the heady heights of his F3 days as he moved between F2 teams ART, Dams and Hitachi in search for a competitive car.

Chip Ganassi racing picked up the young talent for last seasons Indycar competition, but Arstrrong’s lack of oval racing experience which requires specific driving skills no other form of motorsport requires, saw him sit out five rounds of the championship as his apprenticeship matured.

 

 

 

Cullen’s new role in Indycar

This season Marcus has competed in each of the seven rounds of Indycar which have included the fearsome brickier circuit where the drivers compete for nigh on three hours for 500 miles. His performances are much improved claiming two P5 positions in the final classified standings the latter at the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The drastic change in form Armstrong now tells PA, is due to his new relationship with Angela Cullen. “I was quite surprised because frankly, after spending several years in F1, you’d think you’d sort of want to not be involved in motorsport and just sort of take a break – but it’s quite the opposite.

“She’s extremely passionate about the sport and when we started to talk casually, we definitely started to vibe and just sort of we were on the same wavelength.” Marcus knew his physical preparation for his maiden Indycar season was not where it needed to be and so approached Hamilton’s ex-trainer while they were both back in New Zealand over the winter break.

“She has all the experience in the world,” Armstrong said. “She’s seen championships won, she’s seen how it’s done by Mercedes and all of that, so having her on board is a source of inspiration and guidance and motivation.”

 

 

 

Vital to Marcus Armstrong radical improvement

Armstrong makes a dramatic claim about the impact of Cullen’s arrival in his life stating, “I don’t even know how I managed races without her. Because she helps me to first off eliminate the distraction, because there’s so many distractions in this sport.”

“She’s not exactly a physio, let’s say. She’s more than that,” ooh err Marcus 🙂

The Ganassi prodigy outlines how Cullen has brought the sole goal into his world, that everything he does must be performance driven. “If it’s not delivering performance, then we’re not going to do it, so she’s very much a guiding force when it comes to what we do on a daily basis. And if it’s not delivering lap time, we’re not going to do it, plain and simple.”

Armstrong concludes that the relationship is in its early days yet and believes Cullen’s influence will only grow stronger throughout this Indycar season. He praises her meticulous approach and the fact she knows how to get her driver to win world championships, along with all the performance related process at Mercedes during their all dominant era.

 

 

 

Hamilton enters his twilight years

Lewis Hamilton by way of contrast is in his twilight years of motorsport. The seven times world champion has suffered with an uncompetitive Mercedes car since the big car design regulation changes made by the FIA for the 2022 season. Its now been 53 F1 Grand Prix since Hamilton’s last win and he currently is suffering the ignominy of being “hammered” by his team mate George Russell, as fellow racer Jamie Chadwick recently observed.

The British driver is set to leave his lifelong Mercedes family for Ferrari next season, but is presently 7-1 down to his team mate in both qualifying and Grand Prix Racing.

Next up for Marcus Armstrong is the iconic ‘Road of America” race course  which was considered second only to the Indianapolis Speedway when it first debuted on the CART/Champ Car World Series. The cars debut in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in the race remained on the schedule for some twenty five years.

The event was dropped in 2008 after the unification of the Champ Car into the Indy Racing League. Then in 2015 it was announced the iconic venue would return the following year. The event typically includes all three racing series under the “Road to Indy” banner with GT World Challenge America also included as support for the featured race.

 

 

 

Williams F1 SHOCK cost cap limi

The Williams team were bought five years ago for $150m from the family of founder Frank Williams. The new owners are a US investment company by the name of Dorilton Capital. The iconic Formula One team name is experiencing a resurgence in popularity and the F1 official series online community, ‘Fan Voice’, regularly ranks them number one or two for trustworthiness, independence, honesty, bravery – all a valuable commodity when looking for sponsors.

Despite suffering a lean couple of decades, Williams (9) are second behind Ferrari (16) in terms of constructor championships won, with McLaren (8) one place further back. New kids Mercedes are joint third with the papaya liveried team and despite their eras of dominance, Red Bull have yet to break into the top three… READ MORE