Ralf delays French GP decision

Surprisingly the Williams driver was not seriously hurt in the accident but suffered a severe concussion and bruising to his back. The German was released on Monday and flew back home to Austria where he says he will rest for several days before making a decision.

"Right now I need some rest, just rest. At the earliest, in a few days, I'll be able to say what's going to happen next," he told Bild. "At the moment, I'm definitely not thinking about motor racing. I just want to go home. I want to go to my wife and son."

Schumacher admitted that he could not remember any details of the accident or the laps leading up to the smash.

"I saw a few scenes on the hospital television -- that's it. I can't remember anything else -- except for perhaps the start of the race. "I can't remember how, where, when. There's nothing there. It's as if the scenes of the accident have been erased.

"I had a severe concussion and a large bruise on my back -- that's what hurts the most. I try to sit rather than stand up or walk."

It is not thought likely that Schumacher will return to the cockpit for the French GP, but some reports have even suggested that he could also miss the following round at Silverstone.

Former F1 ace Niki Lauda, who nearly burned to death at the German GP in 1976, believes the German should get back in the car as soon as possible. The Austrian himself missed just two races.

"A driver of Ralf's calibre should be able to forget about something like this pretty quickly as long as he's not seriously hurt. As long as there's no pain he's got to start driving right away," he said. "He might have some muscle pain but that's something that can be taken care of fairly easily.

"In my era, drivers were getting killed every year. These days the cars and the tracks have been made very safe."

Schumacher suffered a severe concussion during testing at Monza last year. He was forced to miss the Italian GP as a result and was replaced by test driver Marc Gene.