Lewis Hamilton is now Sir Lewis Hamilton after being knighted by the Prince of Wales during an investiture ceremony, which took place at Windsor Castle, where he was joined by his mother, Carmen Lockhart.
The honour recognises Hamilton’s achievements in formula one where he has won seven world championship titles.
As well as shining on the track, Lewis has used his platform and status to speak about and support a number of social issues he feels passionate about. Earlier this year he said, “It was just before the beginning of the season and I was thinking, we’ve gone through a period, Black Lives Matter, taking a knee, what’s the next step and how do we continue to spark conversation?”
Lewis has used his platform to support Black Lives Matter
“This year I’ve not been drawing on past (race) experiences, I’ve been drawing on feeding off this energy of doing this positive (social) work.
The 36-year-old does not believe enough is done within motorsport to promote diversity or inspiring young people from underrepresented groups.
“I noticed that last year and it was a part of that last year. Getting on the podium so I can give Breonna that voice, it was a super drive for me.
“So now it’s the work that I’m doing in the background and then I’m turning up and I’m enjoying this job.
“Is it helping me race? I think so, yeah. It’s like my new drive and I feel like it’s giving me more longevity because it’s a lot of work we have to do. I feel like it also gives my life real purpose. Racing is not a purpose, it’s something you do.”
Hamilton founded Mission 44 – a nod to his number – this summer, a foundation to back children from underrepresented groups and kicked it off with a personal donation of £20million to help inspire careers not just in F1 but in science, technology, engineering and maths.
