BMW Boss Eager for Ralf Return

BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen has said he wants to bring back injured German driver Ralf Schumacher for the final six races of the year after a disappointing German Grand Prix for the Williams-BMW team.

Doctors said Schumacher would be out for three months after a heavy crash in the United States Grand Prix. Spanish test driver Marc Gene replaced him in France and Britain before Brazilian tester Antonio Pizzonia took over in Germany.

But after Schumacher's replacements scored just two points in three races Theissen said: "I strongly want Ralf to be back in the car in Hungary and if this is possible, if we get clearance from the doctors, he will do that."

Williams admitted they need Schumacher's race experience after Gene failed to score a point in his two efforts and Pizzonia managed two points after finishing seventh in Hockenheim.

The team tried to use the opportunity of Schumacher's injury to test possible drivers for a race seat in 2005, when they will lose Schumacher to Toyota and his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya to McLaren. But the single-lap qualifying sessions proved the two test drivers' undoing, with Gene claiming eighth and 13th on the grid for his two races and Pizzonia starting from 10th on his try-out.

"There is a lot of pressure on them," said Theissen of the test drivers. "They suffer from it. They know it might be the only chance and they have to perform and it is certainly difficult to handle that. In the qualifying run this weekend Antonio was anxious not to make a mistake and that slowed him down and he was certainly disappointed about his own performance on Saturday. But in the race he really did a good job."

Even so, Schumacher is still the preferred option for the remaining races of the season as Williams continue their efforts to move up in the Championship table. After a consistent run of scoring from both Montoya and Schumacher at the start of the year the British team slumped in the two North American fly-away races with three disqualifications to add to Schumacher's crash.

In the last five races they have scored just 11 points while Championship leaders Ferrari have claimed 78 points, second-placed Renault 24 and third-placed BAR-Honda 30.

When Schumacher returned to the paddock this weekend to watch the team's qualifying session on Saturday he admitted he cannot wait to return to the cockpit to improve on his current 12-points haul.

There are still some important decisions to be made over their future drivers, however, and Williams still have one eye on 2005 after Theissen admitted there is "no decision yet" on replacements for Montoya and Schumacher.

He confirmed that Pizzonia and Gene remain on the list and said: "We are in the middle of driver negotiations right now and we certainly include the drivers who are part of the team. There is no decision yet and I cannot give you an idea who will be in the car next year. And if Ralf does not come back for Hungary we will take a decision no more than one week before the race who will be in the car for that race."