Montagny hopes to race in Spain

"I hope to hear something on Monday or Tuesday," the Frenchman told Reuters when asked whether he would still be on the starting grid at next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Montagny, a former Renault tester hired as a third driver for Friday free practice only, was drafted in as a replacement for Yuji Ide after the team dropped the Japanese rookie on advice from the FIA.

"I'm sure I'm going to be in Barcelona anyway, at least to be a third driver, but I hope for more," Montagny said after retiring with a hydraulic problem halfway through the race.

Team boss Aguri Suzuki will have meetings in the next two days to discuss what the Honda-backed team should do, with Ide unlikely to be allowed back before he has had a chance to increase his experience in testing considerably.

"We have not taken any decision yet as for our second driver in Barcelona. We should know where we are in two days time," said Suzuki.

With Spain a back-to-back race with the Nuerburgring, time is tight and there is a scarcity of Japanese drivers with the necessary super licence.

There is also the problem that Monaco, whose tight and twisty streets make it an extremely risky circuit for an inexperienced rookie to debut on, follows on from Spain.

One possibility for the future touted about the Nuerburgring paddock was Sakon Yamamoto, who tested for Jordan at his home race last season and is racing with a Toyota-powered team in Formula Nippon. Sunday's race at least put a French driver back on the starting grid for the first time since Toyota's Olivier Panis retired in 2004.

"The first race was not easy but it's always like that when it's the first race, I believe," said Montagny.

"I didn't know what to expect but it wasn't too bad. I wanted to follow the pace of Taku (Takuma Sato) and that's what I did. He has a three tenths quicker car due to the weight because he's 10 kilos lighter than me.

"I'm unhappy because we didn't finish but that's motor racing."