Ralf Expecting to Return at Hungarian GP

Williams-BMW chief Mario Theissen expects injured driver Ralf Schumacher to return to the grid in time for the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 15.

German Schumacher was injured when he crashed heavily in the United States Grand Prix in the middle of June and doctors said he would be out for between 10 and 12 weeks.

Spanish test driver Marc Gene stood in for Schumacher at last weekend's French Grand Prix and will drive again at Silverstone. But Theissen expects Ralf to miss just one more race - in Germany at the end of July - before his return.

"I spoke to Ralf and he was quite optimistic he would recover quicker than the doctors proposed," said Theissen. "He thinks he can be back in the car in Hungary but I don't know if the doctors support that yet. He will have a medical check next week and then we will know more.

"I am really looking forward to him being back in the car and we expect some strong races from him and a strong performance in setting up the car and developing this year's car down to the final race."

Schumacher had claimed 12 points before being sidelined and this week confirmed that he will leave Williams to join Toyota next season. The announcement leaves Williams looking for two new drivers for next year as Montoya has already signed to race for McLaren-Mercedes in 2005.

But the team insist they will not use the remaining race of the season to test potential candidates for a seat next season and that Schumacher's return is vital.

"Without Ralf we are slipping down and down the Constructors' Championship," said team principal Frank Williams. "If you go from second to third in the Constructors' Championship it costs about 2.5 million dollars (in prize money).

"Third to fourth is about two (million dollars) and fourth to fifth about 1.5 (million dollars) and so on, so as Mario said we do need to have Ralf in the car."