Firman facing race against time
Ralph Firman admits he will not know if he can drive in this weekend’s United States Grand Prix until he takes to the track at Indianapolis today.
The 28-year-old rookie is hopeful of making a successful return to the Jordan-Ford cockpit after missing the last two races following his 150mph smash during practice in Hungary last month.
But Firman must wait until private testing before discovering if he will be fit enough to compete as he bids to secure his Formula One future in the final two races.
“There is no guarantee I will be fit enough to drive,” said Firman, who missed the race in Hungary after his horror smash than pulled out of the last grand prix in Italy suffering from vertigo.
“I have to get over that first hurdle and see that I will be okay. I feel fine now but the proof of the pudding will be when I get back into the car. I will know pretty quickly if I am okay, after the first session.
“I saw a specialist last Monday and he just said crystals had fallen off the inner ear and were in some canal, bouncing around, and that’s what caused the fake vertigo. But that’s completely cleared up now.
“It was just the result of the massive whack on the head which damaged the inner ear and stopped me driving for five weeks."
