Williams: Gene Free to Race Montoya

Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene will be left to decide on team tactics in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix following Ralf Schumacher's decision not to compete, the team's chief operations officer Sam Michael said.

With Gene competing for the first time this season and Montoya only one point behind Michael Schumacher at the head of the World Championship table, there is the potential for team orders to be implemented.

Williams technical director Patrick Head said on Friday that once one driver was out of contention there was "a general understanding" that he would assist his teammate's title bid - that coming before Schumacher was replaced by Gene.

Michael admitted today that Williams would be faced with a "difficult" situation if Gene was leading Montoya with a few laps to go Sunday, but said decisions would be left up to the drivers themselves.

"There still won't be any orders from the team and it won't make any difference because team orders are banned," Michael said. "It is the drivers' choice what they do. Marc's points are as important for the Constructors' Championship as Ralf's so he will be racing as hard as he can really."

Ralf Schumacher is 14 points behind but his failure to recover from injuries suffered in a testing crash last week have dashed his hopes of landing a maiden world title.