Hamilton to change name to include mother's surname

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is seeking to add his mother's maiden name to his last name in the future.

The seven-time F1 world champion visited the Expo 2000 at Dubai on Sunday, a day after concluding Mercedes' pre-season preparations in Bahrain.

The Briton was asked about his prospects for this season and the possibility of winning a record eight world crown that would put him in a league of his own, one title ahead of Michael Schumacher.

The Mercedes driver said that reaching the remarkable milestone would be a "mind blowing" achievement, before he revealed his plan to tweak his family name to pay tribute to his mother.

"It would mean the world to my family," Hamilton said.

"I'm really proud of my family's name, Hamilton. 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 when people get married that the woman loses her name.

"My mum, I really want her name to continue on with the Hamilton name."

Hamilton added that the change would happen "hopefully soon" as he was "working on it".

Hamilton parents divorced when he was still a child, and while his father Anthony was instrumental in helping his son achieve success in motorsport, the 103-time Grand Prix winner has always maintained a close relationship with his mother, Carmen Labrbalestier, who was at his side last December when he was knighted by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle.

• Read also - Hamilton: A lot of work to get Mercedes to 'a better place'

Looking ahead to next weekend's season opening race in Bahrain, Hamilton said that he was due to touch base with his team's engineers later today to discuss Mercedes' latest findings from the data compiled last week in Bahrain.

"I'm really hoping that when I get off this call this evening, they've found some tricks, found some ways to extract more out of this car," Hamilton said.

"There's a lot of cars that are looking quite fast. Alfa Romeo were looking fast, Valtteri [Bottas] was looking quick.

"Obviously the Red Bull looks ridiculously fast at the moment, and the Ferraris.

"But we are the best team, undoubtedly."

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