Lewis Hamilton has announced he is in the process of changing his name to include his mother’s surname, Larbalestier.

It is understood that Larbalestier will be a middle name, so his full name will read: Lewis Anthony Carl Davidson Larbalestier Hamilton.

The 37-year-old, who begins his attempt to wrest back the Formula One title from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Bahrain this weekend, was speaking at the 2022 Dubai Expo when he revealed the news.

“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 [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.”

Asked whether it would be in time for this weekend, Hamilton laughed. “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 separated when he was two. Hamilton grew up with his mother and older half-sisters, Samantha and Nicola, until he was 12, then with his father and stepmother Linda, and half-brother Nicolas.

Who is Carmen Larbalestier?

His mother does not enjoy anything like the public profile of his father, who acted as his manager and biggest supporter until they split acrimoniously in 2010.

That relationship – Anthony had worked multiple jobs at the same time to put Hamilton through karting, acting as his mechanic, his manager, and his mentor – could not survive the intensity of the period after Hamilton became world champion for the first time in 2008, and they did not speak for a time.

His relationship with his mother has always been close, however, and is believed to have grown even closer during that period when he was estranged from his father.

Carmen Larbalestier, who is originally from Birmingham, has been an infrequent visitor to Hamilton’s races, but he did describe her as “the most amazing woman in the world” in 2015 when he organised a surprise 60th birthday party in London at which he got Jessie J to sing.

Hamilton shared a number of pictures from the party on his Instagram account with one caption saying: “So much planning and hard work, all to surprise the most amazing woman in the world, and it was so worth it!!” Hamilton and his father have since reconciled.

Hamilton and his father have since reconciled, and Hamilton has spoken publicly about the importance of family. Carmen accompanied him to collect his knighthood at Windsor Castle in December.

"Family is the most important thing in the world,” he said in 2020. “You can't choose your family but you can make it work with them no matter what your differences. They are the ones that will be there when you have nothing."

Hamilton’s explanation for his decision to add Larbelestier to his name, on the grounds that he “does not understand why the woman loses her name” when she gets married, does not come as a great surprise. Hamilton has been an exponent of equal rights his entire career, most notably in terms of anti-racism but he has also frequently spoken up for women’s rights and LGBT rights.

In 2018,after Forbes published a list of the best-paid sportspeople in the world featuring 100 men and no women, Hamilton said that society was "still in the stone age". "Serena [Williams] is in the top three of the greatest athletes of all time, above a lot of, if not all, the people on that list, so it is a big question. Women rule the world. I don't understand."

More recently, he spoke up in support of the all-women W Series, saying: “When we talk about diversity people often think we are talking about more people of colour - it's not just that. It is having more women involved. At the moment it is a male-dominated sport and that does need to change.

"I remember racing from karting all the way up and seeing less than a handful of young girls coming through, and I remember speaking to a couple of them just knowing how difficult it was. I raced with Susie [Wolff], who was such a great talent, and I remember how tough it was for her, and her being in what was perceived as a man's sport, and it's not.”

Speaking at last season’s inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Hamilton admitted he was “not comfortable” competing in a country with such repressive laws. Hamilton described the lack of LGBTQ+ rights as “terrifying” and questioned the ambiguity of a situation where women who had violated the law forbidding women from driving a car prior to 2018, were still in jail and serving punishment. “It is how they are policed, how they are really in effect, how women are still in jail for driving many many years ago. There is a lot of change that needs to happen. I think our sport needs to do more.”