Toyota boss raves over Ralf

Schumacher is currently on the sidelines after fracturing vertebrae in an accident during the US GP at Indianapolis. But despite this, and the sporadic form that Ralf has shown since dominating the 2003 French Grand Prix, Toyota's chief reckons that he is the team's perfect choice.

"From my point of view we were just looking in the market place and I think during the course of last year, and a number of races this year, Ralf [Schumacher] has proved to be as quick as [Juan Pablo] Montoya, if not quicker," he said. "As a total package we think he is probably better."

Toyota is yet to decide on a partner for Ralf in next year's team and Howett admits that nothing has been ruled out, including signing a certain out-of-contract Scotsman. "We have the young TDA programme which is why, at this stage, we genuinely have not made a decision," he said. "There is also something to be said for bringing one of the existing drivers across as well, for consistency. We are at the moment debating internally what we should do.

"I think we will try to be fair and, if we make a decision, we will not be unfair or unkind to them. At the end of the day they are both professional. But the other day David Coulthard was pretty quick at Magny-Cours, and he had a fairly good weekend at Silverstone, so there is everything to fight for. We haven't closed the door and as professional racing drivers they are going to push as hard as they can."

Howett has emphasised that, whoever the team decides on, it is a choice to be made by the team rather than its new driver: "Our drivers are always equal number one and we have got enough power to deliver equal cars to both drivers. It will be quite natural to discuss it with him [Ralf] but ultimately it is the team's decision. There is nothing in his contract, that is clear."

Howett is also keen to point out that Toyota is not concerned that Schumacher's lack of recent of form combined with his crash at Indy will have affected his potential to win races if the Japanese manufacturer can build a competitive car. "What Ralf does need is a fresh start and that, while he has done a lot for Williams while he has been there, he sees Toyota as a potentially emerging team and there is a risk probably because we are not a top team yet. But he is prepared to take that risk so we decided that it was a sensible deal for both parties.

"We genuinely believe that with all the changes Mike Gascoyne is putting in place we will have a fairly competitive car next year. We are gradually putting the team together. I think we felt we needed a racing driver who had potential to race it, we looked at the market place and we really felt of the available drivers who could be a championship contender if we give him the car, Ralf was the best choice that was available."