'Ralf must take his time'

"I spoke to Ralf on Wednesday and he's okay, in good spirits." said Michael at the French Grand Prix that the injured driver won last year. "He realises how lucky he was and that he's got a road back to recovery that has to be monitored by his doctors and neurosurgeons as closely as possible.

"I think the most important thing that he realises is that he shouldn't get into the car too quickly...he'll be fine in the long run, as long as he recovers properly."

Ralf told Germany's Bild newspaper this week that it had dawned on him just how lucky he had been not to suffer a far more serious accident.

"I came very close to a great disaster," he said. "The doctors have told me again how lucky I was. If I had hit the wall sideways, I wouldn't be here any more."

Williams have drafted in test driver Marc Gene as a stand-in, the Spaniard qualifying eighth for his first race since September. Colombian team mate Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth after setting the fastest lap in pre-qualifying.

"I would say he's done as expected, not worse and not better," said Michael of Gene, who has yet to be confirmed for the next race at Silverstone on July 11.

"We'll see how he gets on over this weekend and make a decision during next week for what happens at Silverstone. Everything at the moment will be on a race-by-race basis," said the technical director.

"The decision to make everything race by race came initially from our unknown assessment of Ralf...and Ralf's position is still a bit of an unknown at the moment in terms of how long he will be out for.

"We don't want to give away any of our flexibility in case Ralf is available to return."