Mixed Race Studies

Lewis Hamilton to change name to include mother Carmen’s surname

The Guardian
2022-03-14

Jamie Grierson, Reporter

Lewis Hamilton to change name to include mother Carmen’s surname

The British racing driver Lewis Hamilton is to change his name to incorporate his mother’s original surname – Larbalestier.

The seven-time world champion says he intends to incorporate his mother Carmen’s surname, Larbalestier, alongside Hamilton.

Hamilton’s father, Anthony, and his mother, Carmen, separated when Lewis was two; he lived with his mother until he was 12 before moving in with his father.

Speaking before the new Formula One season, which starts in Bahrain on Sunday, Hamilton, 37, said: “I am really proud of my family’s name. My mum’s name is Larbalestier and I am just about to put that in my name…

Read the entire article here.

Lewis Hamilton bought a Met Gala table for emerging Black fashion designers

Road Show
2021-09-13

Daniel Golson, Social Media Editor

Lewis Hamilton’s influence extends far beyond F1. Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Tables run upwards of $275,000 and can be exclusionary to young, diverse talent, so the seven-time F1 world champion hosted his own.

If you needed any more proof that Lewis Hamilton is an incredible force in the racing world and beyond, not even two days after a near-death Formula 1 crash in Italy he stepped onto the Met Gala red carpet in New York on Monday to promote emerging Black fashion designers.

The theme of this year’s Met Gala was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” centered on American style and independence. Individual tickets to the Met run upwards of $30,000 while full tables are over $275,000 and typically major designers or fashion houses will buy them and invite the celebrities they’re dressing for the night, making it difficult for up-and-coming designers and stars to make an impact at the event, which is referred to as “fashion’s biggest night.” That makes what Hamilton did especially powerful: The seven-time world champion bought his own table and invited four young Black designers as his guests…

Read the entire article here.

But in the past year, off the track [Lewis] Hamilton has started to find a voice about his racial identity. He has been taking a knee; raising a clenched fist. Long dormant concerns about racism and discrimination have been rudely awakened following the Black Lives Matter uprisings. In the process, Hamilton has transformed the way he sees himself: from a compliant go-with-the-flow character to a change agent who is determined to make waves. He has shaped the way others see him too, going from an inoffensive, if gaffe-prone, socialite focused only on his sport, to a politically aware role model conscious of his wider cultural significance. Now, he is about to take on the sport that brought him fortune and fame, with a commission demanding racial diversity and meaningful outreach to underrepresented groups – as well as more racial equality in general.

Gary Younge, “Lewis Hamilton: ‘Everything I’d suppressed came up – I had to speak out’,” The Guardian, July 10, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/10/lewis-hamilton-everything-id-suppressed-came-up-i-had-to-speak-out.

Lewis Hamilton: ‘Everything I’d suppressed came up – I had to speak out’

The Guardian
2021-07-10

Gary Younge, Professor of Sociology
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

Lewis Hamilton: ‘I don’t just want to be remembered as a driver.’ Styling: Law Roach. Photograph: Ike Edeani/The Guardian

He’s the most successful driver Formula One has ever seen, and its only Black star. Now Lewis Hamilton has a new mission: to change the sport that made him.

As Lewis Hamilton rose through the ranks of competitive go-karting, his father, Anthony, told him: “Always do your talking on the track.” Lewis had a lot to talk about. Bullying and racial taunts were a consistent feature of his childhood in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, a new town 30 miles north of London; his dad taught him the best response was to excel at his sport.

The trouble was he didn’t have many people to talk to about what he was going through. Lewis is mixed-race, born to a white mother, Carmen Larbalestier, who raised him until he was 12, when he went to live with his Grenadian-British father, from whom she had separated. “My mum was wonderful,” he tells me. “She was so loving. But she didn’t fully understand the impact of the things I was experiencing at school. The bullying and being picked on. And my dad was quite tough, so I didn’t tell him too much about those experiences. As a kid I remember just staying quiet about it because I didn’t feel anyone really understood. I just kept it to myself.” Sport offered him an outlet. “I did boxing because I needed to channel the pain,” he says. “I did karate because I was being beaten up and I wanted to be able to defend myself.”

I understand where he’s coming from; I too grew up in Stevenage. Hamilton’s mother and I went to the same school – though not at the same time. As close to London as it was, it might as well have been in a different universe. In London the Black experience appeared authentic; in Stevenage it felt synthetic. Race in London was something you read about in the papers; race in Stevenage was something you didn’t even acknowledge. I was 22 before I found my first Black male friend…

Read the entire article here.

Lewis Hamilton attacks silence from F1 paddock over George Floyd killing

The Guardian
2020-05-31

Giles Richards

Lewis Hamilton has accused ‘some of the biggest stars’ in his sport of ‘staying silent in the midst of injustice’ after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Photograph: David Davies/PA

• Hamilton: ‘I see those of you who are staying silent’
• Driver condemns response from ‘white-dominated sport’

Lewis Hamilton has spoken out about the killing of George Floyd and offered a damning condemnation of the silence from others in Formula One, including his fellow drivers.

“I see those of you who are staying silent, some of you the biggest of stars yet you stay silent in the midst of injustice,” he wrote on Instagram. “Not a sign from anybody in my industry which of course is a white-dominated sport.

“I’m one of the only people of colour there yet I stand alone. I would have thought by now you would see why this happens and say something about it but you can’t stand alongside us. Just know I know who you are, and I see you.”

Hamilton is the only black driver in Formula One and has been outspoken on the sport’s need for greater diversity in the past. “There’s barely any diversity in F1,” Hamilton said in 2018. “Still nothing’s changed in 11 years I’ve been here.”…

Read the entire article here.

Lewis Hamilton

60 Minutes
CBS News
2015-12-13

Lewis Hamilton shows off Formula One car to Charlie Rose

The following is a script from “Lewis Hamilton” which aired on Dec. 13, 2015. Charlie Rose is the correspondent. Keith Sharman, producer.

There is nothing like Formula One in terms of global popularity, glamour and speed. The racing series is considered the pinnacle of motor sports. Most Americans haven’t heard of its biggest star — his name is Lewis Hamilton. Even if car races aren’t your thing, there’s still much to admire in Hamilton’s inspiring story of beating the odds and breaking through barriers. But if you do like speed…buckle up…because you’re about to experience the indescribable rush of driving one of the fastest race cars on the planet.

Lewis Hamilton: Nothing can really prepare you for when you get in the Formula One car. Knowing that you’re driving a multimillion-dollar car, and if you crash it it’s going to cost a lot of money, and they might not give you another chance, is scary…

…Worldwide, Formula One generated more than two billion dollars last season but remains a niche sport in the United States.

F1 executives hope Hamilton can change that.

They have never seen a star like him before.

Charlie Rose: How many black drivers in Formula One?

Lewis Hamilton: One.

Charlie Rose: Why is that?

Lewis Hamilton: Well, I don’t know. I think in the future there’ll be more.

Charlie Rose: You’re a role model?

Lewis Hamilton: I hope so….

Read the entire transcript here. Watch the interview here.

Lewis Hamilton wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2014

BBC News
2014-12-14

Lewis Hamilton has been voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2014.

The 29-year-old Mercedes driver won his second Formula 1 world title this season and joined an exclusive club by becoming the fourth Briton to win the drivers’ championship at least twice.

Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy was runner-up, with athlete Jo Pavey third.

“I was sitting there saying Rory’s going to have it,” said Hamilton, who earned 34% of the vote. “I thought it had to be someone else.”

The Englishman won 209,920 of the 620,932 votes cast, with McIlroy getting 123,745 (20%) and Pavey 99,913 (16%)…

Read the entire article here.

Lewis Hamilton’s lack of popularity: is it cos he is black?

The Guardian
London, United Kingdom
2014-11-24

Joseph Harker, Assistant Comment Editor

The Formula One champion doesn’t seem to earn the plaudits other successful British sports people do, but the criticism of him is ludicrous

Yesterday Lewis Hamilton became the first British driver in more than 40 years to win the Formula One drivers’ championship twice. It was a year in which he won 11 of the 19 races, and sealed the title with victory in Abu Dhabi. This is an amazing achievement for a boy from a humble background in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, whose parents split up when he was just two years old. Highlighting how exceptional a story this is, his closest rival, teammate Nico Rosberg, is the son of a former F1 champion and was raised in Monaco…

Read the entire article here.