A clear statement has been made regarding Lewis Hamilton's former Formula 1 confidante Angela Cullen ahead of the seven-time champion's switch to Ferrari.
Hamilton is set to join the Italian outfit for the 2025 season and beyond, ending his long-term association with Mercedes having been at the team since 2013 and having driven Mercedes-powered machinery since his F1 debut with McLaren.
It has been a partnership that has been hugely successful over the years, yielding seven world championships - six whilst at Mercedes, and one at McLaren in 2008 with a Mercedes engine in the back.
Another successful partnership Hamilton has had during his career was with Cullen - a physiotherapist by trade, but someone who became a very close ally of the Brit over the years.
Hamilton and Cullen worked together from 2016 to 2023 when their working relationship was brought to an abrupt halt. During those years, however, Hamilton scooped four of his seven world championships, with the Brit admitting that Cullen had become a close friend during their time working together.
Cullen now works in IndyCar with fellow Kiwi Marcus Armstrong, but given the success she and Hamilton previously had together, and the Brit's lack of it of late, a reunion would perhaps not be the craziest idea.
Whilst there has been no talk of this, it is an idea that has been debated by former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve, who believes it would be the wrong move. Instead, Villeneuve believes that Hamilton needs a completely fresh start ahead of his move to the Italian outfit next season.
"When you do a big move, you start afresh like Lewis Hamilton is, it means you don't go with your old engineer or physiotherapist like Angela Cullen," Villeneuve told Grosvenor Sport.
"He has won with McLaren, he's won with Mercedes. So there’s no issue there.”
Villeneuve continued, suggesting that he believed the driver's relationship with his engineer was likely more pivotal than his physio: “I have no idea how Angela and Lewis worked together. As far as I was concerned the driver always relied on his engineer, who was the person that was the closest to him on a race weekend,"
“That was always the person that you, the driver, could lean on and that's where you build trust.
"The physio is part of that small group of people that is in the driver’s confidence loop who they rely on.”