No guarantees for Gene

The Spaniard, who is filling in for the injured Ralf Schumacher, impressed in qualifying for the French GP at Magny-Cours last weekend, but only finished 10th after a clutch problem at the start. Although his fastest lap was a tenth quicker than team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya's, in general he was slower than the Colombian.

Many paddock insiders don't expect Schumacher to return to his Williams seat this year so, potentially, Gene could keep the drive for the rest of the season.

Williams technical director Sam Michael said: "Everything at the moment will be on a race-by-race basis. To be honest, that process came initially from the unknown assessment of Ralf's condition, so we could not make any further commitment to another driver."

Montoya was happy with Gene's promotion to the race team at Magny-Cours, and wants him to stay for as long as he is required.

"I wouldn't like to see a new team-mate at every race because you need to work together in a team to make the car better," said Montoya. "If it was Mark this weekend, Antonio Pizzonia the next and Mark Webber the one after that, or somebody else until Ralf comes back, then I think it would be a joke."