NUERBURG, Germany, 28 May 2004 — Ralf Schumacher said here yesterday that this week's restructuring at Williams-BMW has not had an affect on his uncertain future with the team.
Schumacher joined Williams in 1999 but his contract concludes at the end of the season and negotiations over a new deal broke down earlier this year after he struggled to see eye-to-eye with the team's top management.
His position may have be improved on Tuesday after his friend and former race engineer Sam Michael was promoted to technical director when Patrick Head, who previously held the role, became the team's director of engineering.
But Schumacher said: "I'm not sure yet whether it has anything to do with my situation. That will take a while. I'm simply waiting to decide what I'm going to do. That's all I can say at the moment.
"Nothing is decided yet. We are still talking, certainly still waiting for what is happening in our team and then I will see what the outcome is. I just want to be in the best position possible."
Schumacher has collected just 12 points compared to his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya's 23 this season and his performances have gone downhill since his fourth-place finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Head suggested earlier this month that Schumacher's lack of pace this season could be down to the mental effects of a heavy crash in testing at Monza last year that caused him to suffer concussion and miss the Italian Grand Prix.
The comments did little to improve relations between the two but Schumacher, who has been linked with a move to Toyota, believes Michael's appointment could help improve the team's performance in the long-term.
That could convince him to stay with the team and he said: "It will take Sam a while but I'm sure Sam will do great things within Williams. It was definitely a very helpful step for the team which, hopefully, I'm sure he will prove.
Former chief operations engineer Michael, 33, will now take over the reigns during race weekends with Head, who is not here this weekend, spending more time at the factory working on the long-term planning.
But Schumacher's teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who is certain to leave the team at the end of the year after signing to race for McLaren in 2005, is not sure the changes will have any immediate effect.
