Monza crash to blame for Ralf's form, says Head.

BMW WilliamsF1 technical director Patrick Head has speculated that Ralf Schumacher's accident last year at the Italian Grand Prix could be the key to his current lack of form.

Speaking in the FIA press conference yesterday, Head added though that his thoughts were made 'off the record' and were not meant for public consumption, nor were they in anyway an 'attack' on Ralf personally.

"This came out of a private conversation at an Allianz evening at Barcelona," explained Head, "and I was talking to four British journalists and it was well understood that it was an off-the-record conversation.

"The subject was why Ralf was being out-qualified regularly by his team-mate. We've had drivers before who have had big accidents: Nelson Piquet at Imola when he had a tyre explode and Thierry Boutsen as well, and they both said to me afterwards that when they were concussed it took them six to nine months to fully recover.

"In the private conversation, I speculated that maybe the accident at Monza, which was of our making; we had a bond failure in a suspension, that maybe that had had some influence.

"But it shows that actually, talking off the record is unwise and probably won't be repeated."

When asked about the matter further, and whether or not the German should see a sports psychologist, Head continued that Ralf was the best one to decide that.

"Ralf is an intelligent guy and he knows himself and his body and his physical condition and he is more than capable of looking after that aspect himself," added Head. "But, you can imagine, Ralf is not happy with his position relative to his team-mate and we are confident that we can rely on him to put that aspect right.

"As I said, the subject came up as part of a private conversation and I am not really prepared to expand on it."

Ralf meanwhile is said to be less than impressed with Head following his outburst.

He told British newspaper The Independent: "Sometimes he [Head] just goes off a bit or doesn't think about what he's saying, or he's very emotional about things.

"It's not the first time it happened to me within Williams. Obviously we are all under pressure, we all want to deliver, and because of it sometimes things go a bit wrong.

"I think Patrick is sometimes looking for something that happened 20 years ago. It really depends on whatever he feels on the day. He's a very motivated guy, still tries everything to give us a winning car and believe it or not I enjoy working with him. Ninety per cent of the time we get on well."