Perez denies McLaren deal is affecting his focus on 2012 season

The Mexican has not scored any points in the three races since his team switch was announced.

He crashed out in Japan - ironically while battling with Lewis Hamilton, the man he will replace at McLaren - finished outside the points in Korea, and had an incident with Daniel Ricciardo in India.

Asked by AUTOSPORT if thoughts of his McLaren future were becoming a distraction, Perez replied: "Not at all. I think it's very normal that people are looking at you [after you've been in the news].

"When you have something good, and you do something bad after that, it's normal that they relate everything to it and they make up the stories."

He added: "For sure it's just a coincidence. The people who know what's going on are the people who worry me at the moment. I'm fully focused.

"If the results haven't come, it's because there is a reason for that.

"It's normal that people want to make up stories that I'm not doing well because of the McLaren deal. It's not true and it's not right."

Perez said his main concern was that his engineers and fans might start to believe that he has taken his mind off 2012.

"It doesn't bother me at all, but it bothers me because of my team," he said.

"My team, my engineers and my mechanics are fighting so hard, and when my people read this stuff, maybe they get a bit frustrated.

"But in the end, I know I'm giving my maximum to score some points for my team, and this I will keep doing until my last lap with Sauber."