Lewis Hamilton is moving to Switzerland to escape the public and media glare in Britain following his sensational rookie year in Formula 1.
The McLaren driver, who finished second in the championship -- which was only decided in the last race in Brazil -- behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, grew up in Stevenage, 53km north of London.
Hamilton insisted his decision to move was based on media and public intrusion, not the more favorable tax rates in Switzerland.
"Over there people don't come up to you, they leave you alone and give you space," the 22-year-old Hamilton told BBC Sport on Monday. "I'm going to a country that I don't know but it's very exciting."
Hamilton's decision came a day after the Stevenage Borough Council said it would name a street after him.
"You lose your ability to go places -- you don't understand what that means until you get there and you really struggle to lead a normal life," he said. "When you come home and everybody knows you, it makes it so much harder to do normal things."
"I can't go to the cinema. I go to the bathroom in a petrol station and people come in there for autographs," Hamilton said.
Switzerland is also home to Raikkonen and Hamilton's McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.
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