Schumacher denies BMW rumours.

Ferrari team leader, Michael Schumacher has dismissed speculation that he could be on his way to BMW Sauber in the not to distant future.

A report in the August edition of F1 Racing suggests that Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber and senior BMW directors have held 'secret' talks about the possibility of the German joining the Swiss-based squad in 2008, for what will apparently be billed as a 'Bye-bye Schumacher' year - something that could apparently net him as much a $1 billion in earnings.

Asked about the rumours in Thursday's press conference at the German Grand Prix and if BMW had made an approach, Schumacher replied: "Not that I know of, no." Pressed on if he knew anything about it, Schumacher merely added: "No, nothing".

As for 2007, and if he will remain with Ferrari, which looks increasingly likely, Schumacher was again playing his cards close to his chest. "There's no point in getting into that again," he continued, before confirming that an announcement will be made at the Italian GP in September, "We'll see in Monza."

This weekend though he will be out to continue his bid to cut Fernando Alonso's 17-point advantage at the top of the drivers' championship. Furthermore he believes that tyres will be the key as to who comes out top in the battle between the Bridgestone-shod Ferrari's and the Michelin-shod Renault's.

"I don't think the heat has an advantage or a disadvantage for us. The subject here is tyres and I think that for both companies involved - Bridgestone and Michelin, sometimes you get it just right and hit the right spot and sometimes not," he explained.

"This is the most important factor in deciding who wins the races. From our side, I think recently we have increased our understanding about the tyres and, as you have seen, we have used this to our advantage. The level of competition in this sport is so high though that you can easily fall off the competitive edge, as we saw happen to others in the last race. All we can do is take each race, one-by-one."