Lewis not to blame for Swiss switch.

Lewis Hamilton may have been lauded for his successful graduation to Formula One last season, but the tide of opinion turned somewhat when it was revealed that he was to decamp from the UK to Switzerland.

The Briton, who came within a couple of points of taking the world championship in his rookie year, claimed that unwanted attention focused on his private life had forced him to reconsider where he lived, but father Anthony has now admitted that there was more to the move - just as critics had suspected.

Hamilton Sr, who helped his son to reach the heights of F1 after mortgaging his life to get him through karting, FRenault and F3, now enjoys the benefits that come from being associated with a grand prix star, attending every race with Lewis, but admits that he was behind the 22-year old's move to Switzerland.

"If I have any regrets, it is the way we managed the move to Switzerland. It was my idea," he told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper as his son collected the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award in St Petersburg, "I always said to Lewis that, if he started to make any money, he would have to move abroad.

"It could be a very short career - we just don't know - and you have to take care of what you have got. He had been to Geneva and really liked it and it was me who suggested moving there, who organised everything. Somehow people misinterpreted what was going on."

Hamilton Sr insists that, despite Lewis now living his own life, his son will remain the level-headed individual that has inspired so many by the way he has handled his rise to fame.

"We intend that the family will stay together wherever we are living," he said, "One thing we are determined about is that the whole family will see each other every quarter, whether it is in England, Switzerland or Grenada. That is the most important thing to us all and one of the reasons why Lewis remains as grounded as he is.

"It is easy to get the fame and money and go off the rails. A lot of people have made it and then lost everything because they have not stayed focused on what they love doing. But Lewis stays grounded, he is achieving the dream.

"Lewis is a role model and an inspiration, not just for black kids, but for every kid that wants to make something of their lives. A lot of people have lost it because they have not stayed focussed on what they love doing. More than anything, I believe he has been inspirational - inspirational for kids and families because it hasn't been easy and, in this business, there is a lot that people look up to, so you have to live up to their expectations and do the right thing.

"Yes, we will miss him being around but, since he went into Formula One, life has been on the move anyway. He travels almost constantly and is never in the same place for long, but the world is a small place these days and we will see each other as much as we can."

Hamilton's new McLaren team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, revealed last week that he too would be relocating from the UK, where he has lived since his days in the junior ranks, to a lakeside village in Switzerland already popular with world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.