Lewis Hamilton: Martin Brundle spots worrying sign after Brit splits with Angela Cullen | F1 | Sport

Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle has raised concerns over Lewis Hamilton’s body language after the Mercedes star announced his split with long-time performance coach Angela Cullen. Hamilton crossed the line fifth in Saudi Arabia with Red Bull maintaining a commanding gap between themselves and the rest of the field.

The 38-year-old could only find enough in qualifying to start seventh on the grid, while Russell put himself on the second row. Mercedes were ultimately unable to mount a challenge for the win in Jeddah as Hamilton took fifth, behind Russell in fourth. 

The gulf in class between Mercedes and Red Bull was evidenced by the lack of fight from Hamilton as bitter rival Max Verstappen tore past midway through the Grand Prix. The Dutchman fought through the pack to clinch second place as Sergio Perez took top spot. 

Saudi Arabia hosted Hamilton’s first race weekend since announcing his split with performance coach Cullen, who has been an integral part of his team since 2016. The New Zealander has been by Hamilton’s side for four of his seven world titles.

Brundle described Cullen as ‘indispensable’, pointing out that Hamilton’s body language was downbeat for much of the weekend. “George Russell did a fine job for Mercedes all weekend and out-qualified Lewis for the second time this season,” he wrote for Sky Sports.

“Lewis has parted company with his apparently (to me anyway) indispensable physio and confidante Angela Cullen, and also said he can’t connect with this car.

Brundle points out that there may be more in the tank for Mercedes, who could put pressure on Ferrari to step their game up over the coming weeks. “Mercedes are seemingly quite excited about developments coming in the next few races and months,” he continued.

“Nonetheless, they were still comfortably faster than the Ferraris who went nowhere in the second phase of the race on hard tyres. The timing of the Safety Car didn’t help them either, but there’s much work to do in Maranello.”