INTERNATIONAL: Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Monday he planned to add his mother's maiden name Larbalestier to his.
Speaking at Expo 2020 in Dubai on Monday (March 14) ahead of this week's season-opening race in Bahrain, the Briton said he was working on the change and hoped to make it soon.
The 37-year-old said he never understood why a woman 'loses her name' when she is married and added that the addition would help her family's name get its recognition as well.
Hamilton's mother Carmen and father Anthony separated when he was two.
Carmen accompanied the Mercedes driver to Windsor Castle in December when he received his knighthood.
LEWIS HAMILTON, SAYING:
"Honestly it's impossible to know what the future holds and what it would feel like, but doing something that no one else has done will be mind-blowing and I think I know it means so much to all of us to go through all these different emotions through the year, those of you that are on the road with me and whether you're at home or on the race track, you're there with me in the car and I'm carrying you with me and 'still I rise' right? But it would mean the world to my family, and me for example I'm really proud of my family's name 'Hamilton'. Actually, none of you might know that my mum's name is (Carmen) Larbalestier, and I'm just about to put that in my name because I don't really fully understand the whole idea when people get married then the woman loses her name, and my mum, I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name."
"I think for me; my whole life has been about winning. Since I've been racing for 29 years, so I think having that mentality of always knowing that you can be better, but I think during this time realising that winning is not everything, and that sometimes when you lose you actually win and grow, and my advice for people is 'don't be afraid of failure, because you will always failure on the way to success'."
"I think for me personally where I've had all these years where I'm having all this success but not really understanding why I was the only person of color to get through to this role, and not only that, but be at the forefront of it. But having all this success, there's surely a greater reason for it. But I think for me I've found my calling in the last year or so, we've launched the Hamilton commission to really understand what the barriers are for young minorities trying to get into the sport because it is not diverse, Formula One does not look like this place right now, you know. and Formula One has to in the future look like this. I think more companies are realizing today that a more diverse workforce is better for success moving forwards, and I think in our sport, I'm really leaning on all the leaders of our sport to do what's right and make sure they invest in young youth, make sure they push down those barriers and create better pipelines, so hopefully in the next 5-10 years you're going to see the sport looking a lot more like this place."
The driver will be chasing a record eighth championship this year after losing out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi on the last lap of a controversial last race of 2021.
He said on Monday that winning was not everything and "sometimes when you lose you actually win and grow, and my advice for people is: 'Don't be afraid of failure'."
Hamilton said during testing in Bahrain last week that Mercedes were behind Ferrari and Red Bull and his car, on current form, lacked the pace to be competing for wins.
