Hamilton to change surname to honour his mother

Lewis Hamilton is in the process of changing his surname to honour his mother, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion announced while speaking at the 2020 Dubai Expo event.

Mercedes’ Hamilton was speaking to an audience while on stage at the delayed 2020 Dubai Expo on Monday, having just finished F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain on Saturday.

Speaking about his family, he revealed that he is changing his surname to include the surname of his biological mother Carmen Larbalestier, who separated from Hamilton’s father Anthony when he was two years old.

“It would mean the world to my family. For me, I’m very proud of my Hamilton family name,” Hamilton explained.

“None of you might know that my mum’s name is Larbalestier and I’m just about to put that in my name.

“I don’t really fully understand the idea when people get married, the woman loses her name. My mum, I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name.”

When asked if he’d be able to make the change before this weekend’s Bahrain season-opener, the 37-year-old replied: “Hopefully soon. I don’t know if it will be this weekend but we’re working on it.”

Hamilton will be going in search of his eighth world championship this year, having suffered the narrowest of defeats to Max Verstappen in a controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of an enthralling 2021 season last year.

“Bahrain is going to be very tough, it’s very bumpy in Bahrain right now,” added Hamilton. “It’s better than it was in testing because it’s a night race.

“But I’m really hoping that when I get off this call this evening, they’ve found some tricks, some ways to extract more from this car.

“There’s a lot of cars that were looking quite fast, the Alfa Romeo was looking fast, Valtteri [Bottas] was looking quick. The Red Bull looks ridiculously fast at the moment and the Ferraris. But we are the best team undoubtedly, so…”