Sergio Perez denies McLaren link

Sergio Perez has denied speculation that he has been approached by McLaren for a potential switch to the Woking-based outfit as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton next season, as the Mexican driver prepares for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. Perez has enjoyed a successful season with Sauber, finishing on the podium three times already.

With Lewis Hamilton linked to Mercedes for next season, McLaren have allegedly begun searching for a “Plan B” if the Briton does eventually decide to leave the team. Many drivers have been rumored to be linked at replacing Hamilton, including former McLaren drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen as well as Paul di Resta and now Sergio Perez. However, the Mexican driver has clarified that he has yet to be approached by any big teams, with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo recently stating that the Mexican driver to still too inexperienced to drive for Ferrari next season.

"Regarding the McLaren rumor, there are so many rumors around.” Explained Sergio Perez during Thursday’s FIA press conference. “Before it was Ferrari and now it’s with McLaren. Always when I have a good race they [the media] put me in a different team. The most important thing is to keep doing a good job and to maximize the car’s potential we have for the next races."

Sergio Perez has been highly competitive this season with Sauber, already finishing on the podium three times and almost winning the Malaysian Grand Prix at the beginning of the season. These decent results have naturally placed Sergio Perez as a likely candidate for switches to big teams who are currently rumored to be loosing a driver at the end of the season. Felipe Massa has endured a highly uncompetitive few seasons at Ferrari, and has been rumored to be moving away from the Scuderia at the end of the season. Initially Perez was linked to replace the Brazilian, however reports earlier in the week indicated that he could in fact be set to move to McLaren to replace Lewis Hamilton who will apparently leave for Mercedes.

When Sergio Perez was queried about these rumors during the press conference, he was quick to disregard them. When directly asked about whether he had been approached by McLaren, Perez immediately denied by stating: “No, no.”

This leaves the potential vacancy at McLaren wide open, should the 2008 World Champion complete his move to Mercedes. Whether Sergio Perez will remain with Sauber for 2013 remains to seen, however he is vastly improving with each passing race weekend, and his maiden victory is certainly not too far away.

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