Lewis Hamilton: I’m changing name to include my mum’s maiden name Larbalestier

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is in the process of changing his name to incorporate his mother’s maiden name so it will be part of his legacy.

The 37-year-old was speaking at the 2020 Dubai Expo only days before he started the challenge of wresting back the title from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won the Formula One championship last season.

The seven-times world champion was denied an eighth title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year after several controversial decisions during the race, and will begin his campaign to break the record he shares with Michael Schumacher at the season opener in Bahrain this weekend.

Hamilton is already the most successful driver in the history of the sport, with the most race wins and pole positions to his name, alongside that shared record of world championships, and now the Briton has said that as part of his legacy, he wants his mum’s surname to be in the history books too.

“I’m really proud of my family’s name, Hamilton,” he said. “Actually, none of you might know that my mum’s [sur]name is Larbalestier, and I’m just about to put that in my name. Because I don’t really fully understand the whole idea of why, when people get married, the woman loses her name. I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name.”

With so little time until the first race of the season, Hamilton was unsure if his name would be changed in time for this weekend. “It will be soon,” he said. “No, I don’t know if it will be this weekend, but we’re working on it.”

Hamilton’s parents, Anthony and Carmen, split when he was little and he mostly lived with his father and his stepmother, Linda. When Hamilton received his knighthood at Windsor Castle at the end of last year, he took his mother to the investiture as his one and only guest.