Lewis Hamilton’s physiotherapist Angela Cullen may have returned by the Briton’s side but she is not the one who accompanies him on the track for interviews with the media. Instead, it is Ella, who is signed by Hamilton’s Project 44 Foundation.
Per The Telegraph, the Italian lives in London but has “no background in Formula 1“. Since Ella is hired by Hamilton’s management company, she is likely to be his personal press officer and not one that is hired by Ferrari.
Nonetheless, with Ella now accompanying Hamilton in the paddock, it will most likely reduce Cullen’s workload, as she can now just focus on her job as a physiotherapist.
Although not much else is known about Ella, she is one of the many people who will be working with Hamilton and helping him adjust to his new life at Maranello. Ella’s role will be extremely vital this season since Hamilton is joining a legacy team like Ferrari that too towards the end of his career.
It is always good to have someone you have worked with before in a new environment. With Ferrari always being in the limelight on and off the track, they would naturally want their star driver to be media-friendly in an organic way. Ella could smoothen the process and make life easier for Hamilton and his bosses in Italy.
It hasn’t helped that Hamilton has had a frosty relationship with the F1 media since almost a decade now. In fact, in November 2024, the 7-time champion was furious at the media for allegedly taking Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s comments on him, out of context. He openly challenged reporters to try to pull him down with whatever they have got.
“I’ve been around this game for a long time. There’s been so many things that are said about me, there’s been so many micro-aggressions – obviously not from my boss because he’s been supportive over all these years and we’ve achieved a lot together – but I mean in general, within the media and through it all, and nothing can take me down.” ‘
So it is clear that Ella’s task is cut out this time and she could prove to be the biggest difference in Hamilton’s stint being fruitful with Ferrari. Another individual who will return by Hamilton’s side is his manager Marc Hynes. They reunited last year at Mercedes after a gap of two years.
| According to The Telegraph, the press officer seen beside Lewis Hamilton is signed by his Project 44 company. Part of his own team:
‘She is a signing by Hamilton’s Project 44 foundation, according to the newspaper, and will work as Hamilton’s press officer. Ella is an… pic.twitter.com/8HRisd54PN
— sim (@simsgazette) March 14, 2025
While Hamilton is set to have several familiar people around him to settle in quickly, one important person who will no longer be by his side is his former race engineer Peter Bonington, famously known as Bono.
Hamilton, who is now set to work with Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel’s former race engineer Riccardo Adami, admitted in an interview last year that it was sad to part ways with Bono, having worked with him since the time he moved to Mercedes back in 2013.
“That doesn’t change anything, really, between us,” Hamilton said of his relationship with Bono since they will now be at rival teams. “We don’t get to work together, next to each other, every day, which will be sad for both of us – it’s going to be emotional. But we’re always going to be in each other’s lives. Bono’s my brother“.
Who knows, maybe in the future Bono too will return by Hamilton’s side at Ferrari, like many of the people who have previously worked with him have.
