Lewis Hamilton to adopt mother’s maiden name ahead of new F1 season

Formula One Pre-Season Testing - Day Three - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
PA
Marc Mayo14 March 2022

Lewis Hamilton has revealed plans to adopt his mother’s maiden name, Larbalestier.

With the new Formula One season getting underway on Sunday, the seven-time world champion is looking to change his name in the coming weeks or months.

“It would mean the world to my family [to win an eighth title],” he said. “It would mean a lot to me knowing that, for example, I’m really proud of my family’s name: Hamilton.

“Actually none of you might know that my mum’s 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.”

Hamilton’s mother, Carmen, split from his father, Anthony, when he was two. He grew up with her until moving in with his dad at the age of 12, but has remained close to her and he took his mum along for his knighthood ceremony earlier this year.

“It will be soon,” he said when questioned over when the name change will come into effect. “I don’t know if it will be this weekend. But we’re working on it.”

Hamilton has stated that Mercedes will be off the pace in world championship terms when the season starts in Bahrain - an evaluation treated with some scepticism across the grid.

But the 37-year-old will have to fight reigning champion Max Verstappen should he reappear on the front row, after losing out to the Dutchman on the final lap of the 2021 season. That defeat led to Hamilton taking time away from the spotlight.

“I had to unplug,” he said. “Just so you know if any of you want to do it, just unplugging from social media is a really, really good thing. I missed everyone that follows and supports, but I really needed the time to really recentre, refocus.

“I was with my family, trying to be the best uncle I can be and just create memories in the family rebuilding and I’ve come back to fight.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in