Pascal Wehrlein says he hopes to have fully recovered from his back injury in time to take part in next week's second Formula One pre-season test at Barcelona.
The new Sauber recruit was forced to miss the opening test at the Circuit de Catalunya after injuring his back in a crash during last month's Race of Champions, which resulted in the German being replaced by GP2 runner-up and Ferrari third driver Antonio Giovinazzi. Following several medical examinations Wehrlein is making good progress in his recovery and could be set to return for testing duties with the Swiss team next week.
"I am feeling OK," Wehrlein said. "[There is] no pain, nothing. It is just a precaution to avoid anymore difficult injuries than I have at the moment. Just something to be safe for the future and that is it.
"I hope [I can drive next week]. At the moment it is still unclear because I will have a check again at the end of this week. I will see some doctors and we will see. I hope they will give me a green light and if everything is fine I can go back to racing.
"It is just the back. I was surprised when I saw the news that people were writing about my neck, because my neck is totally fine. Just in the first few days which is normal after a crash but at the moment I have no pain. I feel fine and I am doing my training programme normally and I can't wait to go back into the car."
Wehrlein, who moved to Sauber on the eve of the 2017 season following the collapse of his former team Manor, admits he forgot to wear a HANS device at the Miami event but believes it had no impact on the severity of the undisclosed injury.
"I just forgot it. Ii was wearing it always and that time I just forgot it. It didn't change anything on the injury. I am still disappointed [about missing the first test]. I am just looking forward to being back in the car and I am preparing myself for that moment.
"I am here for two days now, just get to know everyone in the team and to see how they work, how the new tyres are behaving so as soon as I jump in the car I am prepared. It hurts and you want to drive."
Wehrlein expects to find out whether he will be fit enough to make his Sauber bow in the second test by the end of this week. Despite F1's regulation overhaul, Wehrlein says he has no concerns about missing out on time in the car, providing he can return to the cockpit next week.
"The first week of testing is normally not so much running than later because you test a lot of new parts, new measurements. For example this morning we just did some aero runs and as a driver you don't learn so much about the cars. Next week is more important than this week so it won't be too bad if I only miss this week.
"[I'm] Not concerned, not at all. The best training is to be in the car, but in terms of this training I am very happy. I have never trained as much as this winter. I am looking forward to seeing how it feels."