Karen, who was a key member of Hamilton’s support team as physiotherapist and assistant, left her role early in the season.

Her role is now split between two new physiotherapists, although much of Hamilton’s support network remains the same behind the scenes.

Hamilton and Karen are in touch to plan “the next fun adventure”, the seven-time world champion added, adding that he hoped they could climb Everest together in the future.

“My setup was slightly different, with (Angela’s old) role being split between two people,” he explained.

“The rest of my team is the same. Ange and I were talking the other day and we’ve been in touch.

“We’ll always be in each other’s lives, always looking forward to the next fun adventure, whether it’s skydiving, or climbing Mount Everest together at some stage, maybe – who knows. Keep supporting each other on our journey.

“I have a great setup now. One of the guys – Steve-O – has been with me since my first race at McLaren, when I moved here from McLaren to be my transmission technician. , he’s been here too. Then he moved on a couple of different roles, and he’s helping me now.

“Otherwise I’m training with someone, and she’s here, Kylie. And then I also have Sandy here, and I have Penny. I have a great support structure.”

Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton on track with Mercedes-AMG physiotherapist Angela Cullen

Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures

Asked about his longevity in F1, Hamilton explained that while his continued performance in the championship was largely down to training and diet, he felt the continued willingness to make sacrifices also worked in his favor.

He added that he feels better at prioritizing recovery between bouts than he did in his first year at the tournament — especially with the support of the fitness staff around him.

“My recovery is better because I’m more focused than ever on my recovery,” he said.

“When I was 22, I wasn’t focused on recovery. I didn’t even know anything about recovery. I just went home and was probably eating pizza and didn’t know what I needed to do the next day.

“For recovery, I don’t have any experts around me to help me with that.

“I have a physical therapist, but we don’t do much. We train together, we swim together, but other than that I don’t know all the details of how you want to eat, how to replenish fluids you lose, stretching, all these different thing.

“I didn’t do that back then. But I mean, I don’t know if those riders were fit at the time, so they probably fell more than us because we trained a lot more than they did.”