Sauber star Sergio Perez has dismissed the claim by a British tabloid that McLaren is targeting him to replace Lewis Hamilton.

Last weekend, the Daily Mail claimed that appearing to have taken it for granted that Hamilton is leaving, the Woking team is targeting the youngster, said to be destined for a career with Ferrari, eventually.

Whilst many in the media immediately dismissed the talk, some didn't. However, speaking in Singapore ahead of this weekend's race, Perez was eager to kill the story, dead.

"Regarding the McLaren rumour, there are so many rumours around," he told reporters at today's FIA press conference. "Before it was Ferrari and now it's McLaren.

"Always when I have a good race they put me in a different team. The most important thing is to keep doing a good job and to maximise the car's potential we have for the next races."

Asked whether his ties to Ferrari might preclude him being considered by McLaren and the like, the Mexican replied: "I have a nice connection to Ferrari through the Ferrari Academy, but I'm just part of the Ferrari Academy not part of the Ferrari team. So it doesn't affect decisions."

In the wake of (Ferrari president) Luca di Montezemolo's claim that he is not yet ready to make the step up to the Ferrari F1 team, the youngster said: "I fully respect his opinion. He probably he means that to become a Ferrari driver you need probably more experience. I don't know, it's only my second year in Formula One. I feel ready to do a good job to be at a top team to be able to fight for the title. So in that respect I feel ready, but I fully respect his opinion."