Gerhard Berger insists Williams driver Ralf Schumacher must get back into a Formula One car as soon as possible. Berger suffered burns in a 1989 crash at Imola and insists the BMW Williams star must not dwell on the accident he had at June's United States Grand Prix.
"It's true that I wasn't as daring after Imola as I had been prior to the accident," Berger said.
"I'd recommend him to return into the cockpit as fast as possible, to get rid of the fear."
Scumacher, who is to race for Toyota in 2005, crashed heavily in Indianapolis and suffered two fractured vertebrae.
But the German has responded well to treatement and his recovery is progressing ahead of schedule.
Doctors initailly suggested he would be out for three months, but his manager Willi Weber has predicted Schumacher could be fit for the Hungarian Grand Prix on 15 August.
"Ralf won't have lost it, he will return as the driver he has been before," added Berger, who quit his role as sporting director of BMW last year. "I don't think that his injuries have been that serious that he won't be as fast and competitive as he has been prior to his accident.
"Whenever I was involved in an accident, I tried to return behind the wheel as fast as possible to take the car it to its very limits once again."
MMIX
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