Schumacher delays decision to race French GP

Ralf Schumacher has put off a decision on whether he will compete in next month's French Grand Prix.

Ralf Schumacher has put off a decision on whether he will compete in next month's French Grand Prix.

The German suffered back injuries in a high-speed crash at Indianapolis after suffering a puncture during the United States Grand Prix and is considered a major doubt for the Magny Cours race.

Williams tester Marc Gene is primed to fill in as he did in Italy last season. Schumacher said: "I am fine under the circumstances. I have only seen it very briefly on TV, but I don't remember where I have been and how it all happened.

"I am not thinking about driving at Magny Cours yet. First of all I will spend a week or so recovering from the accident and then we'll see."

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Meanwhile Formula One's governing body says it is satisfied that marshals and emergency medical teams handled Schumacher's crash correctly.

An International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokesman also justified today the decision not to stop the race at Indianapolis.

"The safety car, medical car and fast intervention cars were deployed by race control without delay and the first car to reach the incident was the closest emergency medical vehicle," the spokesman said.

"We require emergency medical personnel to arrive at an incident within two minutes. This was achieved and we were therefore satisfied with the response time."

Schumacher crashed heavily at the end of the 10th lap at the fastest point of the circuit, spinning and smashing into a wall backwards.