Head Responsible for Ralf Rumours

Williams technical director Patrick Head revealed he has fears Ralf Schumacher's heavy crash at Monza last year has affected the German driver's performance.

An unnamed Williams boss was quoted earlier this week as saying Schumacher's current problems were because of the high-speed crash he suffered during testing before last year's Italian Grand Prix. Head admitted he had made the comments.

But the Briton backed his claim that the crash, which left Schumacher with concussion, is the reason behind his failure to match the performances of teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in the opening races of the season.

"This came out of a private conversation in Barcelona and I was talking about why Ralf was being outqualified regularly by his teammate," Head said at the Monaco Grand Prix.

"We've had drivers before who have had big accidents: Nelson Piquet at Imola, when he had a tyre explode, and Thierry Boutsen. They both said to me that when they were concussed it took them six to nine months to fully recover.

"In the private conversation, I speculated that maybe the accident at Monza, which was of our making, had had some influence. But it shows that actually, talking off the record is unwise."

Schumacher has failed to finish higher than fourth this season, while Montoya can boast two podium appearances, in Malaysia and San Marino, and one fifth place with two retirements. Head promised that the Williams team will not step in to solve the problem and said 28-year-old six-time race winner Schumacher has the ability to get things back on track himself, without his help.

"Ralf is an intelligent guy and he knows himself and his body and his physical condition," said Head. "He is more than capable of looking after that aspect himself. He is not happy with his position relative to his teammate, as you can imagine, and we are confident that we can rely on him to put that aspect right.

"I am not really prepared to expand on the subject any further."